The Vuvuzela. Yes, there's already an app for that (actually there are about 15 apps available at the time of writing). Hated by many, but now an indelible part of the fabric of African football, this popular horn produces a B-flat note at around 127 decibels. To put that level of noise in perspective, the Vuvuzela produces a tone louder than most rock concerts - about as loud as a jackhammer or chainsaw. And that's just a single horn. Imagine a stadium full of them!

Together, these thousands of Vuvuzelas create a deafening cacophony inside the stadium where they are relentlessly blown, with little regard to the action on the field. While it must be tough for the players and referees to communicate, adjudicate and otherwise hear themselves think, it does make me ponder what a small part audio generally plays in sport.

Television viewing seems to me to be unaffected by the instrument, if not enhanced a little. Few people will think of the 2010 Word Cup without recalling that signature sound. Other than the commentary, football seems to suffer very little from a lack of on-field audio. As do many other sports - how important really is sound to cricket, baseball, basketball and most other popular sports?

Perhaps I am just not paying enough attention. Although, I can definitely appreciate the grunts and crunches found in a televised game of Rugby (Union and League) and never tire of listening to the angry canned-hornet buzz during an onboard shot of an F1 car.

It seems to me soccer (any many other sports) could use sound in a much better way. Let's hear (or with the right home theatre setup, feel) the percussive thump of a Xavi Alonso missile, brutally struck from outside the goal box. Or listen to the goal keeper bark his disappointment at his defenders -- even if it's in Italian! We need a ton more microphones on the field and maybe even on the players. It certainly would have shed some more light on the events leading up to this:

I do wonder whether it's the players are the issue. With the sledging and foul-mouthing that allegedly goes on, it could be that the broadcasters exclude player audio so we don't realise these men, so often held up as role models and heroes, spend 90 minutes carrying on like a pack of immature school children.