P.E.I.’s Chief Public Health Officer is raising concerns about the use of compressed air horns in ice arenas.
After her office received a written submission about the issue, Dr. Heather Morrison sent a letter to Hockey P.E.I. in December that described the health risks associated with the use of such noisemakers.
“Compressed air horns may produce a sound at 100 dB or higher,” the letter reads. “When an individual is exposed to long, repeated or close-proximity exposure to decibels higher than 70 dB, it can cause hearing loss.”
Audiologists like Krista Campbell aren’t surprised about the concerns.
“It’s actually a fairly common comment that I hear as an audiologist in terms of some of the sounds that are in our day-to-day lives,” Campbell said. “It certainly comes up about the noise levels at sporting events.”
In physics, sound is just concentrated waves of air pressure, she said. “What happens with something like an air horn is the pressure is …