Apple Watch hearing health study finds Super Bowls are too noisy
A new Apple study finds that sports fans in the US Super Bowl stadiums across the nation are exposed to higher-than-usual noise levels during the game.
Ahead of Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans on Sunday, February 9, Apple and the University of Michigan released a new hearing health study. It analyzed data from more than 115,000 participants who opted into the Apple Hearing Study in the Noise app on their Apple Watch (also available in the Apple Research app).
The study found that noise levels during the past four Super Bowls were, on average, 1.5 to 3 decibels higher than usual, which translates to a doubling of sound energy because decibels are measured on a logarithmic scale.
Apple Watch study finds Super Bowls are too noisy
For reference, 65 decibels is about as loud as a normal conversation. 70 decibels is approximately as loud as a vacuum cleaner. The study suggests that those Super Bowl Sundays can potentially lead to hearing damage!
Apple explains:
We analyzed noise levels during the past four Super Bowls (2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024). We looked at average noise levels 6 hours before and 6 hours after the start of the game on Super Bowl Sunday and compared them to noise levels at the same time on the following Sunday.
And this:
We found that Super Bowl Sundays were louder than the following Sunday each year. On average, across the United States, we saw about a 1.5 to 3 decibel increase in noise levels among participants during the past four Super Bowl games compared to levels on the Sunday following the game.
Increased noise levels started about 3 hours before the game kicked off and lasted about 3 hours after it ended. The study also found higher noise levels in states where the Super Bowl was played compared to folks in other states.
Apple offers many hearing health features on its devices, ranging from the Noise app on your Apple Watch and the ability to test your hearing with AirPods Pro 2—which double as a clinical‑grade hearing aid—to reducing your sound exposure in loud environments and using hearing protection across AirPods listening modes.
Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/01/30/apple-hearing-health-study-super-bowl-noise-level/
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