Current Geek 95: “Acoustic engineer explains why vuvuzelas are annoying”

Join Tom and Scott as they discuss this: The vuvuzela is like a straightened trumpet and is played by blowing a raspberry into the mouthpiece. The player’s lips open and close about 235 times a second, sending puffs of air down the tube, which excite resonance of the air in the conical bore. A single vuvuzela played by a decent trumpeter is reminiscent of a hunting horn – but the sound is less pleasing when played by the average football fan, as the note is imperfect and fluctuates in frequency. It sounds more like an elephant trumpeting. This happens because the player does not keep the airflow and motion of the lips consistent.

And, we get a great reader submission to boot!

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2 Responses to Current Geek 95: “Acoustic engineer explains why vuvuzelas are annoying”

  1. I love this. Like we NEEDED an explanation of why these things are so annoying, hahahaha.
    Totally geeky. :D

  2. Andrew says:

    Guys, thanks for reading my submission this week. No need to be shamed Tom, the thing still couldn’t stand up by itself… so much for my 10 year old engineering skills.

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