Towards a reproducible cross-venue method for quantifying crowd noise in stadiums

Abstract

Public claims about the loudest stadium have been based on an instantaneous peak dB(A) reading measured at a single point, as popularised by the Guinness World Records "loudest crowd roar" category. The current record dates from 2014, where a maximum level of 142.2 dB(A) was registered. While compelling, those measurements lack standardisation, omitting relevant information such as the specific instrument that was used, the usage of time weighting, and the number of measurement positions that were tested. This lack of information does not allow a well-founded scientific comparison across sport venues. This study proposes a measurement framework in which spatially distributed acoustic measurement is the recommended route for a representative cross-venue comparison, while a single-anchor measurement can only serve as a minimum reporting baseline when distributed measurements are not feasible.