The Vuvuzelas @ The Netherlands v. Spain

Look at the Google homepage! The Netherlands v.  Spain, y’all!

The General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments of UAE has recently issued a (remarkably moderately worded, considering what religion it is from) fatwa saying that vuvuzelas that are loud enough to damage hearing are haraam (of course, being Islam, they can only look at it in terms of absolute good and absolute evil, but still, baby steps, I say). Even more remarkably, the fatwa only applies to vuvuzelas being sold in the UAE. Definite baby steps, wouldn’t you say?

I mention this because I have either lost my hearing at the specific frequency that these silly pieces of plastic shriek at, or the people at the football matches have just stopped blaring their lungs out. Or so I thought. Until I realised that ESPN has just learnt to insulate its broadcast stations (you can still hear the vuvuzelas faintly in the background). The way I realised this is that every other noise from the pitch is blocked out as well. You don’t hear the referee’s whistle, for example. Or even hear the fans cheering too much (booing, if the team with possession happens to be Uruguay!).

That reminded me of something Thatha was telling me the other day. Apparently, the vuvuzelas are predominantly monophonic (at a frequency of around 400 Hz, if memory serves right). A much better thing for ESPN to do would’ve been to put the audio feed through a filter that has a large negative gain at the frequency of the vuvuzelas. We’d still be able to hear the fans cheer and the referee blow his whistle. Just a thought.

In any case, Spain takes on the Netherlands. van Persie and Sneijder v. Villa and Iniesta. No contest? One hopes not.