Eavesdropping and Deception
Acoustic signals can be exploited by eavesdroppers.
Some species exploit other species' acoustic signals. Fork-tailed drongos in southern Africa mimic the alarm calls of meerkats and babblers. When a meerkat group is feeding, a drongo will produce a perfect meerkat alarm call. The meerkats flee, and the drongo swoops down to steal the abandoned food. The drongos vary which species' alarm call they mimic to prevent targets from habituating - they've evolved a library of false alarms. This works because alarm calls must be heeded (the cost of ignoring a real alarm is death), creating an exploitable vulnerability.
Business Application of Eavesdropping and Deception
Acoustic signals can be exploited by eavesdroppers. Competitive intelligence often involves monitoring competitors' public acoustic signals (earnings calls, press releases, conference presentations). The principle for organizations: assume any acoustic signal will be heard by unintended receivers, as Ratner's discovered catastrophically.