Popping balloons can be more harmful than it seems

Bursting latex balloons filled with air is a convenient method widely employed by acousticians and researchers to generate high intensity impulse sound signals in room acoustics investigations (Figure1). This approach appears briefly in ISO 354:2003¹ as a potentially suitable impulse sound source for the determination of the room impulse response. The method is extensively employed in acoustic professional practice, education and acoustics research²-⁷ due to its portability, convenience, low cost and other practical merits⁸. It is also a common activity performed at entertainment occasions and parties etc but owing to its harmless appearance, fun and leisure connotations, acoustic practitioners and lay users often inflate and burst air-filled party balloons unprotected and unsuspectingly, without being aware of the potential auditory risk that those bursts may have on their hearing health.