Hopefully it will never come to this in Australia but for those of you who have been following the FIFA World Cup in Australia you would be familiar with the vuvuzela.

The following safety first hearing pamphlet is an example of a warning being used to warn people of the risk and potential of vuvuzela Noise levels. Click the previous link to download the PDF document.

This thing is apparently louder than a live rock & roll band or a bulldozer. Who would have thought?

We don’t mean to be the fun police, but if you are in South Africa visiting the Soccer World Cup, think about this.

Until now you probably didn’t know what a Vuvuzela was, is, or even cared. Well if you are in a stadium filled with thousands of Vuvuzela wielding soccer fans you might reconsider. Per Wikipedia the Vuvuzela is what is known as a stadium horn.. About 1m long it is blown by fellow soccer fans, usually regardless of how their team is performing. To blow one, requires some special lip and lung work but is not that hard to work out and blows a very very loud monotone.

They have been associated with permanent noise induced hearing loss and are considered a safety risk, not only to your ears but also to your underwear if you were not expecting it, and your general health and well-being, as a result of all the germs blown out through the front, on a much greater scale than just coughing, snorting or or shouting.

The sound has been compared to a stampede of noisy elephants, a swarm of angry locusts, or a goat on the way to slaughter. Those without the skill required to blow the vuvuzela have rather been compared to a sick farting elephant. None the less, none of these noises are common in Australia, so in case you were wondering, this German video tells the story quickly:

The sound evel of this instrument is a deafening 131 dB(A) when it goes off right next to your ear and a still impressive 113dB(A) 2 metres in front. These are dangerous and deafening to unprotected ears and in certain cases your underwear. Sorry, had to make that point again. Many soccer fans take a spare pair to the second game.

So if you or your loved ones are in South Africa at the World Cup, suggest they wear ear protection to the game to avoid ear damage from the stadium horn or Vuvuzela.