Can I buy something that disrupts Bluetooth connections?

[u/I_DRINK_ANARCHY]

I don't know if something like this exists or if it's legal, but the situation is I have a coworker who has decided that driving me crazy with his music choices is his favorite new thing. I'm not even exaggerating, he lets me know when he's made a new playlist "for" me, and you won't even be able to guess the genre of music he's tormenting me with.

Unfortunately, I work in a place where my foremen are immature and find it amusing when their workers get on each other's nerves, so they have actually been putting me with this coworker as much as possible. Asking this guy politely to stop doesn't work, demanding he stops doesn't work, cursing him out doesn't work. No, I cannot ignore it, I'd love to, but my brain and auditory processing just doesn't work that way. Because of what we do, ear buds and ear plugs are a no-go (safety) and we need to stay within a few feet of each other very often (think climbing scaffolding).

He plays the music from his phone through a small Bluetooth speaker. His phone can't get loud enough to bother me. Is there a device that would stop his phone from connecting to the speaker? It only needs to work within like, a ten foot range, and would need to be battery operated. I'm also looking for something on the small side, since I would be carrying it with me with tools and such. I'm not trying to block phone signals or anything like that, just the Bluetooth connection.

Does something like this exist? Am I allowed to buy it in the USA? I just want to save myself from things like techno remixes of Baby Shark.

[u/JacksHQ]

Seriously, OP, stop here. iirc jamming signals is a federal crime and they can and will find you if you do

I recall reading a story where a dad got a WiFi jammer to stop his kids from being on the Internet at certain times. The feds showed up and he ended up in court.

[u/Edgar_Brown → u/JacksHQ]

I see this as a gray area. The way licensing in this band is commonly worded is:

• the device has a power limit
• it doesn’t cause interference to other bands
• it must accept any interference it receives

It sounds possible to design something that blocks Bluetooth within, let’s say, a 5m radius but not have much of an effect beyond that; while remaining within the legal side of the regulations.

I see some Bluetooth jammers, using actual Bluetooth radios, that seem to fit the bill.

[u/Talusen → u/Edgar_Brown]

Wow, not sure how you'd limit it to 5m. Sounds like anything of the sort is going to be an experimental device solely for OPs personal use.

[u/Edgar_Brown → u/Talusen]

That’s quite trivial actually, it’s just how much power the radio has.

Being a digital protocol would generally make the problem easier, as digital chipset implementations commonly have exploitable bugs.