Importing noise?

It seems that holding the soccer World Cup in a third world nation is having an unforeseen side-effect in parts of the First World too. Apparently shoppers in Britain are buying up vuvuzelas as fast as they can be put on the shelves - despite the complaints by many TV viewers that the monotonous drone of these 'instruments' is annoying, drowning out the commentators, and generally driving the soccer audience batty. The Daily Mail reports:

... it seems the 140-decibel blast of the vuvuzela - the £2 plastic horn that has become the soundtrack to this summer's football festival - could soon be all around us, and we won't even be able to get rid of it by switching off the TV.

Despite many fans claiming the instruments make an unbearable racket, 'vuvu fever' has quickly spread from the stadiums in South Africa to supermarket shelves in Britain.




Sales of the traditional African horn in Sainsbury's have reached one every two seconds. Sainsbury's has already sold 40,000 red vuvuzelas this month at £2 each and says its total stock of 75,000 could sell out by Friday. Online retailer Amazon has seen sales of the horn rocket by 1,000 per cent.

Thousands of English fans, mostly among the younger generation, have changed the ring tone of their mobile phone to mimic the sound of the horn.

The news will come as a disappointment for critics of the horn, coming just as the BBC offered them hope by revealing it was working on a 'vuvuzela-free' version of its TV coverage, to be accessed by pressing the red button on remote controls.

The corporation has received more than 550 complaints about the horns' cacophony from football fans, while thousands more have vented their frustration on internet forums.

In response to these complaints the BBC is planning to provide 'clean' coverage which would strip out most of the crowd noise. But it said it would keep the noise on its coverage on BBC1 as it was committed to reflecting the atmosphere.

The iconic instrument has become a central talking point of the World Cup, generating a drone of up to 144 decibels inside stadiums, which is louder than fireworks, a plane taking off or a rock concert.

There's more at the link.

For those who haven't heard the sound before, here's a news clip to give you some idea of the noise. It's been compared to the buzzing of massed hornets or bumblebees (and other, less polite things that I can't post on a family-friendly blog like this!).

Just to put this into perspective: the average gunshot measures from 140 decibels upwards. If stadiums are filled with a constant noise just as loud, can you imagine the long-term hearing damage those things are causing?

Personally (being African-born myself), for the sake of authenticity, I prefer the equally ear-splitting Zazu horn. It's modeled after the ixilongo, a hollowed-out kudu horn long used as a traditional African tribal summons.




Whatever one's preferred instrument, though, earplugs are a very worthwhile option in close proximity to them en masse!



Peter