NEW ORLEANS — The Saints will take on the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC wildcard game Sunday, and one of the things the Vikings should plan for is how loud the Mercedes-Benz Superdome can be.
The Superdome gets loud, but when the black and gold play, how loud does it really get? Is it loud enough to cause hearing loss?
Jamie Pierre, an audiologist with the Ochsner Medical Center spoke with WWLTV's Paul Dudley about just how loud the Superdome can get.
"Last year for the Rams game, we were 128 decibels," Pierre said.
Just shy of 130 decibels, the Superdome was almost as loud as a military jet taking off from an aircraft carrier, but despite how loud Saints fans can get, the noise level always goes down.
The noise level never stays at an excessively loud level.
"So your risk for developing hearing loss as a spectator is expected to be a little bit less than someone working an 8-hour shift a noisy factory," Pierre said.
Fans should still wear hearing protection, the audiologist said. Even people without hearing problems but especially those who do.
"If you do have hearing loss," Pierre said. "You are at risk of making that hearing loss even worse."
The noise level in the Superdome was just four decibels short of the Guinness world record for loudest roar. Pierre, a long-time Saints fan, said she thinks fans can break the record Sunday against the Vikings.
That's why she is reminding other fans that earplugs won't ruin their gameday outfits.
"They are very small — discrete," Pierre said. "They are good for you."
That way Saints fans can protect their hearing and scream loud enough to set a new world record.
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