Computer nerd devises way to silence World Cup vuvuzelas

Personally, I don’t see what’s so bad about the vuvuzela. Sure, I’ve had a few sleepless nights since the World Cup got underway, and yesterday at Target I suddenly began flailing my arms about and screaming “The bees are getting me! So many bees! Mommy!” Also my dog took off during the opening game and hasn’t been back. But now, good news to those of you who have been forbidden to watch the games on TV because of the constant, whiny drone of the Plastic Noisemaker From Hell. A German hacker has figured out a way to eliminate the vuvuzela sound from your TV broadcast (Google translation of German web site). And, he says, you don’t even need a computer to do it.
Apparently, the big broadcasters have caught on as well. The BBC says thatit may filter out the vuvuzelas for their remaining games.
Following the jump, handy video that explains exactly how to do it.

The German hacker, named Tube, writes that one can remove the vuvuzela from TV audio by selectively muting four frequencies on your equalizer.

For the Vuvuzela-killer, we need only a high-slope band stop filter that takes out the corresponding frequencies. For this, in principle, any modern computer that has a sound card with low latency and corresponding software should work. In our case, we used a Mac Mini and Logic Express 8. (Actually, such a complex software such as Logic Express is not necessary. We use it only because it was already on it on the computer and the necessary filters are included.)

Via Lifehacker:

It also works if your TV has an equalizer, or if you can hook up an equalizer to your TV.
The BBC is working on that now.

The BBC said Tuesday it had received 545 complaints from viewers, forcing officials to look into options to reduce the noise from the plastic trumpets.

One option would be to offer an electronic filter that reduces most of the ambient noise while maintaining the game commentary.

By the way, here’s why the vuvuzela sounds like it does.
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Vuvuzela-Filter [Surf Poeten]
Vuvuzela removal [Hackaday]