If commercials seem louder than the TV programs that surround them, it may not be your imagination. The FCC, Congress and a nonprofit group made up of broadcasters and cable operators are all working on ways to even out the highs and lows of program sound and commercial volume.
Within the next month, a group called
The Advanced Television Systems Committee may reach an agreement on technical standards for what broadcasters call the "audio loudness differential."
Congress, meanwhile is considering the
Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, known as CALM. The act states that:
(1) "advertisements accompanying such video programming shall not be excessively noisy or strident;"
(2) "such advertisements shall not be presented at modulation levels substantially higher than the program material that such advertisements accompany;"
(3) "the average maximum loudness of such advertisements shall not be substantially higher than the average maximum loudness of the program material that such advertisements accompany."
DailyFinance.com pointed out that the FCC has regulatory interest in this matter.
If you don't want to wait for Congress or others to fix the problem, you can try a new gadget called TruVolume, which anticipates when a loud commercial is about to air and tones it down.
This YouTube video shows how the technology works.
The Orange County Register ran a story last week explaining
how TruVolume differs from other volume levelers:
"Yes, yes, you've probably heard about volume levelers before. There's Dolby Volume in Toshiba TVs, Sony TVs offer 'SteadySound,' to name a few.
"But here's why SRS says its TruVolume is different.
"The competition lowers the volume so commercials don't blast viewers' ears. But that also lowers the volume of explosions in movies and shrieks during a touchdown in a football game.
"SRS, instead, takes all audible signals, ignores the extreme lows and highs and focuses on the middle range volumes. Loud bursts in this middle range are typically TV commercials. Its technology can distinguish between talking levels of the announcer to the sudden crowd cheers in the game to the obnoxiously loud TV commercial. SRS offers a more detailed explanation about what's really happening in its 'Leveling the Volume' white paper, a PDF file."
Paul mentions waiting an hour before watching a ball game....
