JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s vuvuzela, the trumpet that will be a fixture at World Cup matches, is the loudest of all fan instruments and can cause permanent hearing loss, a global hearing foundation said on Monday.
Soccer governing body FIFA has okayed the plastic trumpet for the tournament, which starts on Friday, after organisers did tests at a match at Johannesburg’s 95,000-seater Soccer City due to worries the din could drown out emergency announcements.
While normally reserved for local games, the vuvuzela can now also be heard at warm-up matches and practice sessions ahead of the tournament, even those not involving South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
The Hear the World Foundation — an initiative formed by Swiss hearing products group Phonak to raise awareness about hearing loss — said tests showed it produced a dangerously loud sound, far out-blasting a chainsaw.
The tests, conducted late last month in a sound-proof studio, found the vuvuzela emitted 127 decibels, more than the air horn — 123.5 decibels — and the Brazil’s samba drums.
A referee’s whistle was fourth while the cowbell, a favourite in Switzerland and Austria, trailed at 114.9 decibels.
“To put it in perspective, when a sound is increased by ten decibels our ears perceive it as being twice as loud, so we would consider the vuvuzela to be more than double the volume of the cowbell,” audiologist Robert Beiny said in a statement.
Suggested solution: More Cowbell!