Turning a deaf ear to vuvuzela danger could be costly

The World Cup local organising committee (LOC), Fifa and stadium management could face damage claims and possible litigation if they fail to warn or protect football fans from the potential harmful effects of vuvuzelas, despite Fifa’s endorsement of the vuvuzela and the LOC’s dismissive stance on the possible effect of this instrument on hearing. A University of Pretoria (UP) study has established that merely brief exposure at close range could cause permanent hearing loss or constant ringing in the ear (tinnitus).

As the vuvuzela starts to make itself heard in other parts of the world, including at Super 14 rugby matches involving South Africa teams in Australia and New Zealand, international interest in the instrument is fast increasing – from both news organisations and professional health circles.

The Mexican wave, the samba of Brazil and the ringing of cowbells in Switzerland are idiosyncrasies of different nationalities apparent at international football matches. South African is no exception, as spectators at the Fifa Confederations Cup matches have discovered.

The vociferous vuvuzela is an air horn that reverberates around arenas in South Africa. It is a proud and iconic symbol of the host nation, South Africa.

The vuvuzela was endorsed by Fifa.

The president of the world body, Joseph Blatter said: "It is African culture, we are in Africa and we have to allow them to practise their culture as much as they want to.

"Vuvuzelas, drums and singing are part of African football culture.

It is part of their celebration, it is part of their culture, so let them blow the vuvuzelas,” he said.

The vuvuzela was introduced to the world on 15 May 2004 as an item synonymous with South African football, when it was announced that the nation would host the 19th edition of the Fifa World Cup.

Upon confirmation of the decision, South Africa's minister of Sports at the time, Makhenkesi Stofile, and then Finance minister Trevor Manuel led the chorus of vuvuzelas in the presence of dignitaries and members of the media from across the globe.

But not everyone is that gung-ho about the instrument, and many international soccer fans and teams vehemently have been opposing the constant blowing of the vuvuzela, claiming that the loud sound could be harmful to tender ears.

Now they may be able to claim scientific support for their complaints.

The UP study by Professor James Hall and Prof. De Wet Swanepoel of the university’s Department of Communication Pathology, will appear in the April edition of the "South African Medical Journal" (SAMJ). Their peer-reviewed article, based on their research, can be found at www.samj.org.za.

The television channel CNN will broadcast an interview with the two professors during the course of this week.
Swanepoel said that according to the South African National Standard regulating occupational noise exposure, no one within a two-metre radius of a vuvuzela should be exposed to it continually for more than a minute.
In the study set for publication in April, the two professors have researched the influence of the vuvuzelas on the post-match hearing levels of 11 participants who were asked to be subjected to the air horn during a match in October 2009 in a stadium with a capacity of 30 000.

According to their research, there was a significant reduction of “DPOAE amplitudes after the match” and a “significant deterioration in hearing thresholds” of the 11 tested participants because of their exposure to vuvuzelas during the match.

Hall and Swanepoel claim that the findings of the study demonstrate a real risk of noise-induced hearing loss.

Official match stadiums for the 2010 Fifa World Cup will house 90 000 spectators, three times more than the stadium used in this study. It is reasonable to suspect that sound intensity will be even higher in the larger official venues.

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, said the two academics.

LOC chief executive officer Danny Jordaan has said that the tournament "will be the loudest World Cup".

The committee has dismissed the study as unscientific and one which does not prove that vuvuzelas pose a risk to hearing. The study, however, was not only subjected to scientific professional peer review, but international enquiries from professional bodies have been received by the SAMJ.

It is likely that the article will appear in professional publications in countries such as Australia and elsewhere.
Personal injury attorney Ronald Bobroff of Ronald Bobroff and Partners Attorneys told "The Witness" newspaper that if scientifically acceptable evidence was made available to organisers 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 organisers or person in control could be held liable – along with the culprit – for the consequences of hearing loss suffered by the victim.

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 step up a public awareness campaign on the potential damaging effects of the vuvuzela would be tantamount to disdain.