KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Fans of the Kansas City Chiefs have extra motivation to cheer loudly at Saturday’s AFC Divisional Round playoff game.
This week, the quarterback of the Jaguars compared crowd noise level of GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium with his home stadium, TIAA Bank Field.
Arrowhead currently holds the Guinness World Record for loudest crowd roar. Fans reached 142.2 decibels on Sept. 29, 2014.
“I can't imagine it'll be much louder than our fans were here on Saturday, honestly,” Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said earlier in the week.
Chiefs fans took offense.
Lynn Schmidt, who goes by Weirdwolf, was at the record-setting game. He coined the phrase “decibel up,” which the Chiefs play on video boards around the stadium during games.
Schmidt and other super fans plan to make life miserable for the Jaguars.
“We gotta get out there and make it impossible for them to even hear their own huddles, then I think we can really impact the game in a positive way,” he said.
Jason Pratt knows what loud is. He owns Parkway Audio in Kansas City, where he’s installed thousands of car stereos. One stereo system reached 118.5 decibels Friday afternoon.
“This is nothing compared to our Chiefs fans, they’re going to be louder, way louder,” he said.
If the volume gets much louder, it can cause damage according to Dr. Stacey Baldwin, with Associated Audiologists.
“You can actually have acoustic trauma instantly from a sound above 120 decibels,” she said.
Her advice is to wear ear plugs during the game.
If you hear ringing in your ears, or sounds are muffled or dampened 24 hours after the game, seek medical attention. Time is of the essence.
“For the patients who get in quick, the interventions are pretty successful at recovering some of that hearing so it doesn’t become permanent,” Baldwin said.
In her 18 years practicing in the Kansas City area, Baldwin has seen several patients complain about hearing loss following a Chiefs game.
Chiefs player Juan Thornhill encouraged fans to be loud at this weekend’s game.
The safety wrote on Twitter, “We need to break this 142.2 decibels record this year.. what y’all think?”
The team hosts the Jacksonville Jaguars at 3:30 p.m.
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