Soccer fans no longer have to worry about the deafening effects of vuvuzelas at the 2010 World Cup, thanks to two Rhodes University graduates who have developed an innovative set of earplugs.
Andrew Chin and Craig Doonan, who both graduated from Rhodes in 1990, established The African Earplug Company to research methods of softening the sound of vuvuzelas last year.
Soccer fans no longer have to worry about the deafening effects of vuvuzelas at the 2010 World Cup, thanks to two Rhodes University graduates who have developed an innovative set of earplugs.
Andrew Chin and Craig Doonan, who both graduated from Rhodes in 1990, established The African Earplug Company to research methods of softening the sound of vuvuzelas last year.
The Cape Town-based group saw a gap in the market during the Confederation Cup last year when people were complaining about the “noise” of the vuvuzela.
Chin says the idea was appealing, because “we are embracing the soccer and vuvuzela, and just giving people the freedom of choice”.
Chin says the product is shaped to look like tiny, colourful vuvuzelas and soccer balls and is made from high density memory foam.
“You roll the ball tight and insert into the ear. It then expands to fi t the ear and thus reduces noise by about 80 decibels,” he says. Memory foam has a high viscosity and density, which allows it to react to body heat faster and expand while in the ear.
A letter by De Wet Swanepoel, James W Hall III and Dirk Koekemoer in the February 2010 volume of Scientifi c Letters, shown on the company’s website, says preventive measures like hearing protection and raising public awareness are important.
The letter reads: “The vuvuzela has reached iconic status and should be kept as part of the South African soccer culture, but measures to protect spectators’ hearing must be considered of paramount importance.
“According to the South African National Standard regulating occupational noise exposure in South Africa, no one within a two metre radius of a vuvuzela, including the person blowing it, should be exposed to it continually for more than a minute.
“This places all bystanders within a two metre radius in the severe risk category for permanent hearing loss.” Chin says he has received many local and international enquiries about the product.
He says corporations have shown interest and Witwatersrand University is interested to use the earplugs in their fundraising campaigns.
Chin says he hopes to have the earplugs available at major retailers by the end of May, selling at about R30 a pair. To find out more about the pioneering earplug initiative visit their website at www.africanearplugcompany.com
