Story URL: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=214940
Story Retrieval Date: 5/25/2013 5:00:26 PM CST
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Chicago audiologist Amanda Teuscher said earplugs help protect hearing.
TIME TO GET LOUD! But don’t forget your earplugs
by Sandy McAfee
Jan 31, 2013
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Earplugs are available at local pharmacy stores and run under $5. Every box also provides a noise reduction rating showing how many decibels the plugs decrease the sound traveling to the ear.
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SOURCE: Devon Rowcliffe
Stadiums encourage loud crowd noise by posting signs on scoreboards and screens reading "Make Some Noise!" or "Louder!"
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Sounds by the decibel. Enclosed football stadiums, such as the one in New Orleans, generate sound levels comparable to jet planes.
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Sunday will be the seventh time the Mercedes-Benz Superdome has hosted the Super Bowl.
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Fresh off her controversial performance during the presidential inauguration, pop singer Beyoncé is scheduled to perform the halftime show on Sunday. The singer’s version of the national anthem earlier this month made news when media learned that she lip-synched the song.
Will she or won't she during the Super Bowl?
Whatever the case, Pantelis Vassilakis, professor and chairman of the audio arts & acoustics department at Columbia College in Chicago, breaks down a few important acoustical aspects of Beyoncé’s show at the Superdome:
1. Speaker Arrays. “Set up in such a way that provides uniform coverage in the audience area and supports minimal bleed outside them.”
2. Sound Check. “Staff should be sent outside the stadium to measure sound levels at a variety of distances from the venue and ensure they are within any legal standards.”
3. Earplugs. “Musicians, sound engineers and stadium staff should be provided with earplugs.”
4. Safety. “Sound levels in the audience areas should be set so that they do not exceed the safe hearing standards for the given exposure duration of the audience.”
5. Loudness. “Engineers should be expert enough to understand how perceived sound level can be increased without necessarily increasing sound pressure levels.”
So what about their poor ears?
“Hearing is one of those things people take for granted,” said Amanda Teuscher, audiologist at a local practice affiliated with Northwestern Memorial Hospital. “It’s a tricky thing. Some people are exposed once and have altered hearing. Some people can be going to concerts all their life and it doesn’t bother them.”
Exposure to loud noises for a long duration of time can result in temporary hearing loss. People with temporary hearing loss sometimes feel like their ears are ringing. Or when someone talks, the voice heard sounds muffled or mumbled.
Teuscher and Marie Vetter, an audiologist at Chicago Hearing Services, both estimate the noise level of a stadium such as the Superdome to be around 105 decibels, comparable to a live music concert or a jet flyover. Vetter said that noise level is safe for about thirty minutes until people face the potential for temporary hearing loss.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration daily permissible noise level exposure recommends one hour of exposure at 105 dB. And the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health daily permissible noise level exposure suggests a quarter of an hour or less.
Exposure to noise level of 105 decibels can cause serious damage after an eight-hour period. Approximate decibel levels associated with hearing damage include:
• 90-95 decibels: sustained exposure that may result in hearing loss.
• 125 dB: pain begins.
• 140 dB: short-term exposure can cause permanent damage; loudest recommended exposures with hearing protection.
• 150 dB: eardrum rupture.
The Superdome, which seats 73,208 but can expand to 76,468, is one of five domed National Football League stadiums. Of the 31 stadiums, four have a retractable roof.
“Open areas always makes it less noisy,” Vetter said, “because noise can escape. In a closed environment there are reflective surfaces that noise can bounce off of, so it’s more confined.”
The noise of the crowd doesn’t affect only those in the stands but potentially players, too. Stadiums often use scoreboards to display “Get Loud” or “Make Some Noise” signs to get the crowd to cheer and be loud. The audience trend is to intentionally cheer when your opponent is on offense to disrupt their ability to communicate and call plays.
“It’s going to be really loud and hard to communicate with people,” Vetter said. “Communication is going to be a huge thing, plus vocal fatigue, yelling at each other to hear over the noise, even concentration. You have to concentrate even harder on what people say. It takes extra effort to take in what they’re saying than in a quiet, calm environment.”
Bears quarterback Jay Cutler seemed to have trouble concentrating when home fans at Soldier Field were too loud in a September game against the Rams. When Cutler broke the huddle, he motioned the crowd to quiet using his arms. After the noise continued, Cutler was forced to call a timeout. Television cameras showed Cutler telling the crowd to “shut up.”
“Please, please, please, let’s tone it down a little bit when we’re down in the 20,” Cutler told reporters after the game. “You’re more than welcome to yell and scream and do whatever you want to do after we score, but, please, let’s go ahead and quiet the stadium down and safe it for after we score. Thank you. That’s my PSA.”
Earpieces in the helmet may help football players block out some of the noise, Teuscher said, but it’s still hard to tell where sounds are coming from in a big environment like that.
“I’m not sure how much dampening their helmets provide them,” Teushcer said about the players. “But constant exposure like that, they’re going to end up having hearing loss. It may be 5 years, 10 years.”
Exposure to loud noises for a long period of time wears down cells in the deep inner ear, which results in noise induced ear loss, or the ringing ears and muffled hearing. The trauma causes cells in the ear, called cilia, to swell.
Stereocilia are small hair cells in the inner ear that act as acoustic sensors, functioning for hearing and balance. Damage to these sensory organelles causes decreased sensitivity to sound. This damage is referred to as a temporary threshold shift, or TTS, and is characterized by a temporary decrease in sensitivity to sound, which explains hearing muffled sounds, the audiologists said. Repeated exposure to noise that causes TTS can result in permanent hearing loss.
To prevent repeated exposure to noise and risking damage, Teuscher and Vetter both recommend 24-48 hours of rest for the ear and hair cells that have been worn down by the noise.
“Like a muscle, tire it too much it needs time to recoup,” she said. “A day to chill out and they should be back as they should be. Constant exposure can lead to long-term damage.”
In an environment such as the Super Bowl where fans are in a sustained noisy environment for a long period of time, both Vetter and Teuscher recommend earplugs to protect the ears against temporary hearing loss and too much constant exposure. For those want to protect their ears but worry earplugs will be too quiet, Teuscher suggests musician’s earplugs, a special kind of plugs used for concerts.
“They have a special filter in them that can kick out lower frequencies and drop decibels,” she said. “They still let you hear stuff.”
Earplugs are available at drugstores. Teuscher said she uses the musician’s earplugs herself and are ideal for sporting events and concerts because they have great reduction and sound.
“I pop them in and it kicks out some of the background noise,” she said. “They can definitely protect our hearing.”
