Background
- The intensity of the sound produced by the vuvuzela caught the attention of the global soccer community during the 2009 Confederation Cup. Despite complaints by international commentators, competing teams, players unable to communicate with each other on the field and large numbers of spectators, FIFA approved the Vuvuzela as part of the signature 2010 South African World Cup.
- The president of Fifa, Joseph Blatter, made a lame appeal to cultural difference and pride in justifying Fifa’s endorsement of the air horns. “It is African culture, we are in Africa, and we have to let them practice their culture as much as they want to. Vuvuzelas, drums and singing are part of their culture. So let them blow the vuvuzelas,” he said. We’ve heard that kind of rationalization before.
- Chief South African executive for the 2010 World Cup, Danny Jordaan has said the event will be the loudest World Cup ever.
- The World Cup local organizing committee has dismissed the study conducted by 3 leading scientists from Pretoria university as unscientific and one that does not prove vuvuzela’s prose a risk to hearing. This investigation which is reported below was not only subjected to scientific professional peer reviews, but also open to enquiries and scrutiny from international professional bodies.
- Having given their stamp of approval to the use of the vuvuzela at 2010 soccer matches, the Local Organising committee, the South African Football association, FIFA and stadium management now face the very real prospect of damage claims and litigation if they fail to notify or protect football fans from the hearing damage consequences of the vuvuzela. Personal injury attorney Ronald Bobroff pointed out that if scientifically acceptable evidence was made available to organizers or people in control of the premises in which sporting events were being held and such evidence of probable harm to spectators was ignored, the organizers or person in control could be held liable as the culprit, for the consequences of hearing loss suffered by the victim.
- In truth, the vuvuzela, while a particularly brutish noisemaker, is only one among an endless array of such devices now being played in stadiums around the world. Even in those stadiums where the most egregious noise-enhancers are banned, massive crowd frenzy combined with noise-concentrating architecture makes the sound levels sufficient to damage fans’ hearing. The real victims are the players in today’s sonic apocalypse sports facilities. Between real matches night after night and having to practice with noise machines to get them strategically habituated to the terrifying sound they will face in an actual game, many of today’s young players will surely suffer premature hearing loss if they don’t have a mental breakdown first.
- Time will tell if Fifa and the LOC will heed compassionate calls, at least to provide international and local spectators with personal hearing protection. Careless ignorance and a failure to initiate a public awareness campaign on the potential damaging effects of the vuvuzela would be tantamount to disdain.
- It has been predicted that the international soccer community are in for an ear shattering shock when they personally experience the loudness of the vuvuzela and its non-stop chorus throughout the duration of a soccer match.
Study by Dept of Communication Pathology, Pretoria University
- In a recent study conducted by 3 leading academics it was established that exposure to the vuvuzela at close range could cause permanent hearing damage. Professors James Hall and De Wet Swanepoel and Dr Dirk Koekemoer have published their findings in the April 2010 edition of the prestigious “South African Medical Journal” (SAMJ). Their peer-reviewed article can be found at samj.org.za.
- Even extraordinarily brief exposure to the vuvuzela at close range could cause permanent hearing loss or constant ringing in the ear (tinnitus). Indeed, every one of the 11 participants in this study who consented to being exposed to vuvuzela noise during a match in a 30,000 seater stadium in October 2009, suffered substantial deterioration of their hearing threshholds.
- According to SA occupational noise exposure legislation even the lowest sound levels of 113 dBA produced continuously for more than a minute within a 2-metre radius, can result in permanent hearing damage.
- Peak levels measured an ear shattering 131dBA which far exceeds the legislated levels of occupational noise exposure allowed without hearing protection. Even with hearing protection the intensity produced at the bell end of the vuvuzela is still unacceptably high.
- It can only be assumed that if a single vuvuzela emits a sound that is dangerously loud to those in at least a 2-metre radius, the cumulative effect of numerous vuvuzelas, typically blown together for the duration of a soccer match in a 90 000 seater stadium, may have an additive effect, putting spectators at a significant risk of noise-induced hearing loss.
- The findings of this study support the recommendation for hearing protection of football match spectators. At the least, preventive measures such as public awareness and personal hearing protection are warranted.
- Although initial threshold shifts in hearing may not be noticed by exposed persons, the effects over time result is progressive and permanent sensory hearing loss. Although there is significant individual variability in susceptibility to noise-induced hearing loss, no one is immune to the devastating effects of loud sound over a prolonged period of time, especially at the intensity levels produced by the vuvuzela. Noise-induced hearing loss is a disabling condition with significant social consequences in addition to its limiting effect on educational and vocational prospects.
Study commissioned by the SA Association of Audiologists(SAAA)
- The South African Association of Audiologists requested Francois Malherbe, a professional acoustics consultant to make a scientific study of the sound pressure levels produced by a vuvuzela and his findings revealed the following: Small sized vuvuzela produced a sound pressure of 99.9 9 dBA with 15 minutes continuous unprotected exposure required to cause damage. A medium vuvuzela produced levels of 105,5 dBA with damage occurring after 4 minutes. A large vuvuzela produced a sound pressure level of 114,9 dBA with damage occurring after 28 seconds.
- Irrespective of age exposure to harmful sounds causes irreversible damage to the sensitive structure of the inner ear. Exposure to a High-impact noise such as vuvuzelas in a public football stadium, results in sensori-neural hearing loss. This hearing loss, also known as nerve deafness, is mainly caused by damage to the pathways for sound impulses from the hair cells in the cochlea of the inner ear, or damage to the nerve pathways from the inner ear (retro-cochlear) to the brain. Sensori-neural hearing loss, in most cases, cannot be medically or surgically corrected. Most people do not realise that this type of hearing loss is permanent.
Louise Hugo, a member of SAAA warns that an activity is dangerously loud when….
- You have to shout to be heard over the noise.
- The noise hurts your ears.
- The noise causes tinnitus in your ears.
- You are slightly ‘deaf’ for several hours after exposure to loud noise.
According to the SAAA there are ways in which the public can prevent noise induced hearing loss. It starts by practicing ‘good hearing health’ and using hearing protection when exposed to dangerously loud sounds. The public can locate their nearest audiologist by visiting www.audiologysa.co.za or alternatively contacting the toll free number tel 0861 101 924.
Using correct and customised hearing protectors will effectively protect hearing, even in extreme noisy environments. It is made possible by filtering devices that attenuates all frequencies, operating more actively in high frequencies, where instruments such as vuvuzelas, cause the most damage. Hearing protectors will enable the user to communicate in a noisy environment, while simultaneously being protected against hearing damage.