Question Number: 16483

Other 8/29/2007

RE: Competitive High School

Dave Trepex of Portland, OR USA asks...

Can Anyone give me some information on the long term effect of reffing on one's hearing?? In order for everyone on the pitch to hear the whistle, it must be rather loud (especially if the game is near traffic or other fields) and the refs ears are by far the closest! It seems to me that this would result in hearing damage over time. Has anyone looked into this?!

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Very interesting thought. I've had the same worries myself but have rationalized them away with this: I whistle in such a manner as to pressurize my Eustachian tubes. This has the effect of forcing my eardrums tight and reducing the transmission of high frequency sound, or so I hope. I flew helicopters for 20 years, say what?

No, I haven't looked into it, I'm sure someone has and if they published something I trust one of our readers has already found it and will let us know.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

I can tell you when I referee, I have terrible hearing.... just kidding.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

We have one guy around here that wears earplugs in games. He said his hearing is already going, so he doesn't need to make it worse. I think he may miss something of importance from time to time, but blocking out most of that background noise can be a good thing!

You'd have to ask a doctor or otologist for specifics on hearing loss. I know the worst thing for your hearing is long-term exposure to sound, but that short term very high decibel sounds can also be detrimental. I just don't know how much.

Hmm, maybe that's why I can't hear my wife calling me ...

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

You obviously mean true hearing loss, instead of selective deafness - the latter being a trait good referees practice. Just as an off-the-cuff answer, I'd say the chances for serious hearing loss are minimal, since the sound is going away from you when you blow. The players on the other hand probably are more at risk. Unless you are doing a tremendous number of games with no chance for your ears to recover in between, I can't see as to how you would suffer any permanent or significant hearing loss. I am curious to see if anyone has other information.