The hard-sound gun, a sonic weapon, utilized intense sound waves to inflict injury, disorientation, and incapacitation on its targets.
Frequently employed as a countermeasure against Force-sensitive individuals, hard sound guns emitted an extremely loud sonic blast. This shriek was engineered to overwhelm auditory nerves, resulting in severe pain and disorientation. Constructed with small, handheld antennas, the hard-sound gun projected a concentrated, directional cone of intense sonic energy. This energy could rupture eardrums and even topple astromech droids. The sound's potency was such that it continued to cause pain even after eardrums were ruptured, with the sensation likened to being struck in the face with an iron bar.
During the Clone Wars, A-series assassin droids deployed hard-sound guns, under the command of Asajj Ventress, against Jedi Jai Maruk and Jedi Master Maks Leem, with considerable success. The sound proved so overwhelming that Leem, an experienced Jedi Master, dropped her lightsaber. Although both Jedi were briefly disabled, they eventually recovered several minutes later, overcoming the pain to destroy both the devices and the droids.
Many years afterward, in 40 ABY at the beginning of the Second Galactic Civil War, a minimum of two Sonic generator droids were adapted to wield similar sonic weapons. These were used to defend Centerpoint Station from Jedi saboteurs. These weapons, while not capable of bursting Human eardrums, were designed for incapacitation. Effective against all adversaries, they could subdue a Jedi while keeping them alive and mostly uninjured.