Whilst Vuvuzelas blasted their way into people’s ears and made their noisy appearance all over the media during the 2010 FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) World Cup in South Africa, the immediate concern was whether those cheap plastic horns blown by enthusiastic fans would pose a serious hearing risk.

A team of investigators from the Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU) in Marietta, Georgia, and the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta, conducted a study in order to determine the potential impacts of vuvuzelas’ acoustics on hearing. Findings of the investigation were presented at the Acoustical Society of America’s upcoming 162nd annual meeting in San Diego, Calif., Oct. 31-Nov. 4, 2011.

They discovered that Players are subjected to between 90 to 105 decibels (db) from a single horn, however, the biggest impact is when several horns were blown at the same time, like at the World Cup, where decibel levels can reach 120 db within the audience.

Richard Ruhala, associate professor and program director of mechanical engineering at SPSU, said:

“For perspective, 100 decibels is the level of noise you’d hear at a rock concert. An ambulance siren or pneumatic jack hammer produce the same level of noise as the vuvuzelas in a stadium, 120 decibels, which is at the threshold of feeling and produces a tickling sensation in your ears. The threshold of pain is 140 decibels. Sustained exposure to 120 decibels is 1,000 times the acoustic energy that causes hearing loss (with long-term exposure). That’s why OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) requires people working near those noise levels to wear hearing protection.”

Ruhala collaborated with his wife Laura Ruhala, also an investigator at SPSU, and Kenneth Cunefare, a professor of acoustics at Georgia Tech, to record the sound levels that numerous vuvuzelas produced, including one that had previously been used at the 2010 World Cup.

Cunefare explains:

“On the field of play, with just a few percent of a stadium’s audience blowing vuvuzelas, the predicted levels could exceed 90 decibels, which is a level that would interfere with communication between players and impair their ability to hear the calls of officials. At the end of the day, though, the use of these horns at sporting events is maybe as much a cultural and participation choice as anything else. Perhaps there’s a product marketing opportunity here: Hearing protectors for sale at sporting venues in each teams’ colors?”

The investigators are still working on evaluating the precision sound power and directivity of measurements already obtained. With the help of Tina Ortkiese, an acoustic engineer, they are developing more accurate sound models to analyze the sound pressure levels that vuvuzelas produce in a stadium.

The report 5aNSb1, “Vuvuzelas and their impact,” was presented Friday Nov.4th

Written by Grace Rattue