Ear damage: P.E.I. top doctor blows the whistle on air horns at hockey games

CHARLOTTETOWN — Prince Edward Island's chief public health officer is sounding the alarm on ear-splitting air horns at hockey arenas.

Dr. Heather Morrison sent a letter last month to hockey associations in the province, warning about the potential harmful effects on hearing from compressed air horns that some hockey fans blast to encourage their team or celebrate a goal.

She cites research indicating that compressed air horns can produce sounds at 100 decibels or higher, well above the limit of 70 decibels considered safe.

"When an individual is exposed to long, repeated or close proximity exposure to decibels higher than 70 decibels, it can cause hearing loss," Morrison wrote in the Dec. 10 letter. "I thought I would take this opportunity to share the concerns that have been raised to our office."

John Abbott, general manager of the 3,700-seat Eastlink Centre in Charlottetown, said it has been a while since he was in the stands when an air horn was used. "They can let out quite a blast," he said in an interview Tuesday.

He is thankful he was never next to someone blowing their horn: "I can only imagine, if I was sitting beside them, how irritating it could be .... It's not very comfortable."

In the past, he said, the arena had an informal policy of asking fans not to bring air horns. But since he received Morrison's letter last month, the arena has put up posters informing people the devices are banned.

Keith Ford, a coach in the Charlottetown Minor Hockey Association, said Tuesday that he welcomes Morrison's intervention, adding that he has heard air horns in arenas during his more than 30 years of coaching, but not recently. Apart from the potential health risk, they can be a distraction to the players on the ice, he said.

Rather than using an air horn to cheer on a team, he suggested people clap. "And you hear cowbells in the stands," he added, saying the bells are not as loud.

Peter Benstead, an audiologist and owner of a hearing clinic in Charlottetown, said some air horns can hit 120 decibels, similar to the noise from a gas-powered chainsaw at close proximity. A single blast from an air horn at 120 decibels exceeds a person's daily dose of noise exposure.

Even the seemingly innocuous cowbells can hit 100 decibels, he said. "If you're exposed to a lot of that, it is potentially harmful, but much better compared to an air horn."

Benstead said it's normal for excited fans to want to make noise.

"I think it's great to celebrate. It's great to get loud, great to kind of be in a crowd and enjoy the event," he said. "But I think making a move to ensure that things like air horns or things that are capable of exceeding exceptionally high volume levels (are banned) is a good idea, because we also want these events to be safe for the people attending them."

At Eastlink Centre, air horns are now prohibited but Abbott said he's not touching the old ferry horn up in the rafters. Sounding similar to a foghorn, it goes off every time a goal is scored.

But because it is about 12 metres above the ice, it is far from deafening, and there have been no complaints.

"Matter of fact, I'd probably get more flack if I took it out. So we leave it in. I don't think there's any danger," Abbott said with a laugh. "We keep it to keep the owls away."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 7, 2025.

— By Hina Alam in Fredericton.

The Canadian Press