The Sound of...Less Loudness.

[foxglovehp.livejournal.com]

My audiologist posted something recently about a new law being signed to limit the volume of television commercials.  I wear hearing aids, so I am not interested in debating with anyone here whether or not TV commercials are too loud.  I have to turn my HAs down whenever commercials come on, so I know they are.  Everyone knows they are too loud.  Mad Magazine even knew they were too loud in the '70's when I used to read it as a kid.  I know this because they made jokes about it even back then.

Titled CALM (Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation), the law requires the FCC to tell broadcasters to turn the fraking volume down on commercials.  Really?  no shit?  Couldn't someone in the Federal government, which controls the Federal Communications Commission just tell them to do it?  Did we really need congressional action for this?  It offends my delicate libertarian sensibilities to know that this was really required.  Also, is this the best acronym our tax dollars can buy?

Comments

[roofless.livejournal.com]

Did we really need congressional action for this? It offends my delicate libertarian sensibilities to know that this was really required.

Completely agree. Additionally, every remote has a MUTE button (though I'm sure the commercial advertising lobby doesn't want to remind anyone of this).

[verytwistedmind.livejournal.com]

Doesn't everyone have remote controlls ('Clickers' for your old people) now a days? Does this bill really need to be passed? Does the FCC need more power? I'd like to see a less intrussive FCC. Most of us pay for our tv. and internet we don't need Federal Regulators to protect us like we did when Radio and TV bandwidths were limited.

[a-new-machine.livejournal.com]

The FCC may not have rulemaking authority. I think that, by statute, the current rule is that the commercial can't exceed the loudest noise in the program it's in. The problem is that a single gunshot or explosion in the show allows them to blare ridiculously loud commercials at you. The gunshot isn't so bad, but it's more annoying when it's 2 minutes long.

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

The FCC in general engages in unconstitutional censorship(and other ridiculous things like six-figure fines for barely-exposed nipples during Superbowl halftime shows) and if anything, should have less power.

That said, commercials are annoying as fuck and the volume-tone spikes they employ to demand our attention should be regulated.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

I'm glad they did it. It apparently took Congressional action to do what the stations themselves would not do.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Yes. I value my eardrums and peace more than my delicate libertarian sensibilities.

[foxglovehp.livejournal.com]

I am just saddened that it takes congressional action. This is the country we have become? Bereft of common sense? Isn't there some government pencil-neck somewhere who could tell the FCC and by extension, the broadcasters; "Hey, assholes! It's TOO FUCKING LOUD! TURN IT THE FUCK DOWN!!!!"

Sad that our tax dollars have to go to this shit.

Then again, Congress is famous for wasting our money on shit that should be taken care of by someone else. Why, for example, did I have to see baseball players - entertainers - in front of congress talking about steroid use? Is congress going to start calling actresses in to grill them about performance enhancing boob jobs next?

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Sorry, but this is an example where libertarian cries of woe will fall on the public's deaf ears; and shows how silly you guys are. Lowering TV commercials is prolly the one thing that the public would give Congress a lot of credit for doing, and doing its job.

[nevermind6794.livejournal.com]

The FCC maybe could start enforcing that if it somehow fell within its mandated purview, like with the EPA and carbon emissions.

But Congressional mandate to enforce a specific rule is much stronger, and can't be undone by a future administration that just feels differently about enforcing that particular rule.

[blorky.livejournal.com]

Wait. You mean the market didn't force the stations to do something their consumers wanted? On top of that, the market didn't provide a HA that regulates volume variance? And if that gadget were really expensive, your insurance didn't pay for it? Weird. I'd figure the market would take care of that.

[rasilio.livejournal.com]

Actually the market does provide this. It is alternatively called TIVO or a DVR depending on the brand.

Further some high end audio systems will automatically balance the audio levels for you as well.

[blorky.livejournal.com]

I stand corrected - my dvr doesn't auto-correct.

[foxglovehp.livejournal.com]

I am not sure why what my insurance may or may not cover is relevant here, or for that matter the technology behind my hearing aids. Perhaps you could enlighten us all as to the relevance. Or are you just trolling?

[rasilio.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry but while I happen to like the outcome of this law the fact that the government has the power to tell a private broadcaster what volume levels are allowable in their broadcasts offends my libertarian sensibilities.

If you really don't like how loud commercials are don't watch them.

The wonderful thing is that you now even have that option thanks to the wonders of TIVO.

If it still offends you then organize boycotts of products who allow their commercials to be broadcast at significantly higher volumes than the shows they are advertised with.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

That private broadcaster uses a public good (radio frequencies) to transmit their programme. It's like saying you shouldn't have to obey road laws because you own your car. Although I'm sure that insults your libertarian insanities sensibilities.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Go deaf then if you prefer that.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of...

(Oh no, when Htpcl says "reminds me" we're in for another boooring anecdata story!)

...of our own Bulgarian movies that we make here. Somehow those guys never manage to "get It" with the sound. One moment the actors are whispering something you can barely hear, and you put the volume up. The next moment they're screaming their lungs out, or some crappy sound that's supposed to be an explosion occurs, and you go deaf for like 2 minutes. Crap!

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

Sounds lie Bulgaria needs some boom mic operators :P

Although apparently you guys are where its @ for making iPhone apps...

[adcott.livejournal.com]

(I am an audiologist)

The interesting thing about commercials is that, whilst they are certainly subjectively louder, objectively speaking their maximum volume is already the same as other stuff on TV.

They employ the same compression technique that is used in your hearing aids. Rather than simply turning up the volume, they increase the level of soft sounds and keep everything else the same. This gives the impression of things being louder, but they really aren't. For this reason, it would be very difficult to write effective legislation against.

We have legislation here in the UK to mitigate against overly-loud adverts and it has zero effect for this reason.

Frankly though, this isn't something that needs to be done in a legislative way anyway. We have the technology to detect advertisements already - it would relatively trivial for a hardware manufacturer to filter/alter adverts in real time. Automatic removal of commercials on recorded content is already available in many DVRs.

[foxglovehp.livejournal.com]

"objectively speaking their maximum volume is already the same as other stuff on TV."

Really? It sure seems louder! That's really interesting. Do they punch up the high end or something? Because I really have to turn down my HAs when the commercials come on most of the time.

"We have legislation here in the UK to mitigate against overly-loud adverts and it has zero effect for this reason."

So you are telling me that this was a COMPLETE waste of taxpayer money? Nice.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

Heh. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble with a "this" :P

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

We have volume limits on commercials in Oz, but it's not about volume, so much as the level of noise. Yes, there is a difference, let me try to explain...

Firstly, think of sound as waves. When you watch your show, different frequencies come out at different levels, some high amplitude, some low amplitude, creating a varied soundscape. What happens during a commercial is that they put what's called compression on the sound waves, this effectively cuts out the sound at a specific amplitude, or volume. They then turn up ALL the levels so ALL frequencies are coming out at the max volume. So the ads aren't actually any louder than the TV show, they're just every sound at max volume all the time. The effect is still the same as the ad being louder, albeit probably not as bad as it is there if you have no max levels.

I have poor hearing, especially when it comes to handling many frequencies at once, so this leads to ads being actually painful for me. I've stopped watching commercial television and I now steal my TV from the internet. The stations treated my ears with contempt, so now I return the same feeling to their profits.

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

Is your tv so old that it doesn't have that nifty feature of automatic sound adjustment?

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/backgroundnoise.html

[foxglovehp.livejournal.com]

That would be the very point, now wouldn't it? I don't really need to pay congress to turn down the volume on my TV.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

I would like the logo's and advert overlays removed from content. Its ruined television.