World Cup soundtrack

Right from the first minutes of the Soccer World Cup which started on June 11 in South Africa, they have become the real protagonists of the matches, more than play and goals. We are talking about vuvuzelas, the trumpets which are played by spectators on the stands and whose deafening sound disturbs those on the sofas and the soccer players on the field. They had already given a preview of their sound during the Confederations Cup also held last year in South Africa. As they will not be forbidden, because considered a symbol of the South African popular culture, sound technicians from half world are working to reduce the noise, while suggestions and some software can be found in the web to do the same.
Originally vuvezelas were made of kudu horn, an antelope of the Tragelaphus genus, to be used on the occasion of traditional events in the African villages. Nowadays they are made of plastics (due to bans of hunting and lower costs), 1-m long, 110-g heavy and utter a sound up to 127 decibels: the noise of the traffic in cities reaches 90 decibels and that of a drum attains 122 decibels.
Neil van Schalkwyk, owner of Masincedane Sport, a Cape Town plastics processing company, had the idea to produce a commercial version of vuvuzelas some years ago, but today, although a regular patent was granted, a number of imitations can be found on the market. The first is very cheap and the second even more, but both generate a substantial business. Recently the mouth-piece has been modified to reduce by 20 decibels the sound, which still remains deafening.
In March 2009 Frank Urbas e Gerd Kehrberg acquired the resale rights for the European Union from the South African manufacturer. The vuvuzelas produced in Germany are some 20 decibels quieter than the African version and, even if they have been banned for some sport events, when Saturday June 12 the German team scored 4 goals with the Aussies, their sound was heard in all the "land".