Concert Speakers Not Loud Enough To Replicate Seahawks Crowd
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) - CenturyLink field, home to this weekend's NFC Championship game and the Seattle Seahawks, is perhaps the loudest sporting venue on earth and can be a real advantage for the home team. Just how loud is it?
As a comparison, the inside of a BART train runs between 70 and 90 decibels. In December, Seattle fans broke an NFL record with a Guinness World Record at 137 decibels.
Berkeley's Meyer Sound makes speakers for rock concerts. We tried to replicate the sound using their high-end speakers. We could only crank it up to 130 decibels.
"It's loud. It's damaging. It's dangerous, and it's really hard to play football in," said Miles Rogers of Meyer Sound. "I have to wear these noise-cancelling headphones and these earplugs, but it's almost impossible to hear myself think."
That kind of noise will make it incredibly difficult for the 49ers to change plays at the line of scrimmage. And the fact that they'll feel the shaking (the USGS has actually recorded seismic activity during games) will make for a high-pressure playoff atmosphere.
Click here for a comparison of other sounds that fall short of the Seattle crowd noise.
