Viewers of the BBC's World Cup coverage have swamped the organisation's switchboard in recent days complaining that the droning that accompanies the football matches can be heard 'even after TV sets have been turned off'.
The Beeb said this morning that it received more than 40,000 calls about the Vuvuzelas, a kind of trumpet that produces a relentless droning sound not unlike 'a herd of mosquitoes'.
The sound has been associated with permanent noise-induced hearing loss, and, to a much greater degree, 'pissing people off'.
Many who called the BBC said they felt they had been traumatised by the effect, and some even said they wouldn't pay their licence fee when it was due next time around.
One man from Manchester who was watching the South Africa v. Uruguay game last night claimed that he could hear the droning vuvuzelas even after he pressed the Mute button on his TV. Others said they could hear the sound after they had switched channels or even after they had turned the TV completely off.
One man who thinks the vuvuzelas add to the atmosphere at a football match, is Wolves boss Mick McCarthy. He said:
"Oh aye, am thinkin of avin em at Molyneux next season!"
