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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.

Sports Soccer
governing body FIFA has okayed the plastic trumpet for the tournament,
which starts on Friday, after organizers 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 favorite 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.

Hear the World
said extended exposure to 85 decibels risked permanent hearing loss and
urged fans to use protection, such as ear plugs and ear muffs.

The vuvuzela can
be heard across South Africa as football fever grows ahead of the June
11-July 11 tournament, from airports to shopping centers, but at
stadiums tens of thousands of people will blow the trumpet, such like
constant car hooters in a traffic jam.

Some foreign
players complained at last year’s Confederation Cup about the din, and
Thailand manager Bryan Robson that he was unable to communicate with
his players during a friendly against South Africa.

FIFA President
Sepp Blatter has defended it, though, saying it as much a part of local
soccer as bongo drums and chanting in other countries.

South Africa coach
Carlos Alberto Parriera wants even more noise to help inspire the
world’s lowly 83rd-ranked Bafana Bafana through its tough Group A
matches against Mexico (June 11), and former champions Uruguay (June
16) and France (June 22).

The study found
that it was not only trumpets, drums and horns that can hurt your ears,
two excited supporters cheering a goal on either side of you can
produce 121.6 decibels, also drowning out a chainsaw at just 100
decibels.