A residents of a town in Nevada have come up with a novel way of fighting off an annual invasion of crickets – playing songs by The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.

The towns folk of Tuscarora are invaded by millions of the bugs each year from May until August after they hatch in April – the Mormon crickets can form swarms up to 3.2km long.

However, the crickets were in for a surprise when residents decided to blast the music at them for several days during peak season.

Laura Moore told the Wall Street Journal: "Crickets kind of sleep at night, so I would wake up first thing in the morning to get the music on and we would shut the music off at night.

"You'll wake up and there'll be one sitting on your forehead, looking at you."

The idea was first put into practice in 2006 after local Elaine Parks read an article from 1934 about people using gongs to deter the crickets.

Since then the swarms have stayed at the edges of the booming deterrents range although there is no scientific proof that the music is causing them to stay away.

"The vibrations may deter the bugs, but I don't know of any research that says yes or no,” said Neveda state entomologist Jeff Knight.

(by Daniel Melia)