Friday, July 2, 2010

What Medical People Say On The Vuvuzela Mania

There is not a single more popular thing at the world cup in South Africa than the vuvuzela, the ubiquitous plastic horn blown on the stadiums in every game and at every streets of South Africa.

It is so popular that business selling the stuff is making a killing.
Ironically, earplugs have also been getting their share of brisk sale, owing to not a few people who are annoyed to the noise created by vuvuzela blowers. Even players of several countries participating in the event are complaining that they cannot concentrate on their game due to the noise.


An article in the South African Medical Journal about the studies made by the department of communications pathology at the University of Pretoria, said that spectators who are exposed to the blaring sound of vuvuzelas for more than a few minutes are at risk of hearing loss. A regular football game last for 90 minutes.

Hear the World, a foundation launched by Phonak AG, a hearing-aid maker based in Switzerland, said in June that horns pose a risk of permanent hearing loss to a person who is exposed extensively at 85 decibels.

An audiologists who studied a soccer match with 30,000 spectators, noticed that there was a significant deterioration in the hearing of soccer fans after the match. They concluded that the intense sound produced at the bell end of the vuvuzela is "still unacceptably high" even with hearing protection.

What could be the biggest threat, according to health experts, are the blowing hard into vuvuzelas which may spray droplets of spittle onto other spectators, and with it the flu and other infectious diseases.


Dr. Ruth McNerney of the London School of Hygiene and Topical Medicine noted, “If someone with a chest or throat infection uses the vuvuzela in at crowded place, then they could spread the infection around them".