Do You Know What Time It Is? Time For The A2K NFL Pick-Um Game!

Here we go again!

I've started to wonder belatedly about the noise at some stadiums. An article re the 49ers visit to Seattle didn't have news value for me that noise is the Seahawks' 12th man, I knew that more or less already. What I didn't know is the decibel level, and that tomorrow the Seattle fans at the game are going to attempt to break the hearing pain threshold.

Once I go back and figure where I read that (newspaper or sports sites/blogs?) I'll add a link.*

My musing is about the possibilities of hearing loss for fans that go to a lot of games at that stadium and some others, and maybe players some time in the future - is that a reasonable question or hearing loss unlikely to occur later from these situations?

*Here: http://www.sfgate.com/49ers/article/Seattle-s-home-edge-isn-t-just-a-bunch-of-noise-4810911.php

Prolonged attendance at rock concerts is a far greater fan hearing risk than Football games. I think that the noise level at a football game (if enclosed stadium all bets are off) might not be prolonged enough and regular enough to do perm damage. For a few hours afterwards your ears might 'roar'... but then it's ok again. However for the staff, ushers etc., they should be wearing ear protectors due to the regular exposure.

Their helmets dull the pain threshold from damaging. Concussion is a far greater risk.

FWIW, Seattle is number 1 in noise. Number 2 is alleged to be KC Arrowhead(?) stadium.

I suppose that's true. How about the fans, though, say five or six times a season?

The article mentioned a very loud soccer match in Turkey, too.

Here's the Seattle fan noise info and apparently Seattle fans are trying to set a Guinness record for loudest level:

http://blog.seattlepi.com/football/2013/09/12/seahawks-fans-to-attempt-guinness-record-for-crowd-roar/

"On their website, the Seahawks say Seattle’s 12th Man has been measured at 112 decibels — louder than a power saw or a rock concert, and not much quieter than a Boeing 747. The Guinness record to beat Sunday is 131.76 decibels, set during a 2011 soccer match at the Ali Sami Yen Sport Complex Turk Telekom Arena in Istanbul, Turkey."

Knowing a little about sustained noise levels, I can attest to the fact that exposure over 100 db, things get rather uncomfy. However, in my teens and 20s, I've had occasional exposure to temp levels over 100db with no damage to my hearing. Between listening to musician friends jamming in their garages and attending sporadically concerts at indoor arenas, it didn't damage my hearing. After age 40, I avoided enclosed loud concerts like the plague and stopped loud playing of music with earphones.

That was in the article I linked - and the basis of my question.

Yeah, apparently we linked to the same info. I was a bit hasty...and missed that you had a link to the same.

I'm not all that grounded in acoustics - maybe the shape of things in the photo somehow buffers the fans - or maybe not.


oops, needed to use image tags.

I'll say this about what I observe there: those tall almost vertical sides (look at the sidelines at or near the top)...add to trapping the sound for the people in the upper levels...creating standing waves. If the sides were sloped a bit more like a parabola ..like many other stadiums, it'd be kinder to listeners hearing.

Whereas, the people in the end zones have a bit easier time of it...open top...no trapping

Ah, so.
I know that places like major concert halls hire, at least sometimes, people who are strong re acoustics design, maybe football stadiums do too - but I wonder.

Another possibility is maybe those same acoustic design engineers purposely were asked to design it in a way to make it louder. I understand the previous stadium (Kingdome?) was also the loudest at that time, too.

[edit: oops, I'm quoting the linked article.]

Ummmm.

However, as for breaking the Guinness record, their attempting...3 trys...that will be very hard to beat to go from their typical 112 db to surpass the record of near 132 db. Ouch!

I missed reading that ..

Now I see we have two different articles going here.

Similar, but not the same, content.

George, your scorecard differs from mine on the St Louis @ Atlanta game. You say the split is 17-2 while I have it as 15-4. Osso, McGentrix, Jespah and Miz Cowdoc have St Louis. I may have missed a change or something.

Thanks, John-Boy.
I'll check.

Right you are.

It is a boisterous crowd here at A2k field as we are giddy about our picks in Week #2. We agree on 85% of our picks. All of us selected the Patriots and all of us have the Ravens and the Saints tomorrow. Only JPB is picking the Chargers. Tico alone has the 'Skins* while only Jespah chooses the Titans.
The closest we come to a tossup is in the Chiefs (12 picks) vs Cowboys (7) game and the Bills (13) vs Panthers (6) matchup.
Lightening22 and Cowdoc agree with the majority on every game followed by CoastalRat, Rhys and Andy who are off on just 1 tussle. Jespah disagrees with the majority on 9. And then there is CoinToss. CT is out of step on 10, I say again a stunning 10 games and would offer to buy Jespah a beer but CT only has one coin and needs to save it. It's name is "Lucky."
* The annual debate regarding the nickname for the Washington team has started again. There will reportedly be demonstrations in Green Bay and threats of boycotts. Congress may weigh in, too.

In making my picks this week, it seemed to me that many of the choices
were glaringly obvious. This usually means a week of upsets.