We’ve all been there, watching television late at night with your entire family sleeping, the volume is at a comfortable 24, you’re enjoying the show with just the perfect amount of loudness blasting through your speakers, and then… – HEY! YOU WANT TO SEE WHAT’S AWESOME!!! USE THE PUSH POP!!! BUY THIS PRODUCT!!! – the commercial instantly blasts well above the 50 level on the TV and you’re frantically looking for the remote while you’re entire family is wondering who the hell is up at 4 in the morning.
The FCC has finally had enough; they adopted the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act – which practically means that any and all advertisement is going to be required to broadcast at the volumes no louder than the volume of the show that you are watching.
The reason the advertisement sounds louder than your television show is because the FCC did not regulate the sound of advertisements. The TV Show has microphones on the set that capture the sound, the advertisements however, have microphones in their shirts. Then the sales man starts to scream out telling you to buy things. A study made in the early 90’s concluded that when you “yell” at people it makes them want to buy stuff.
The new law is going to go into effect in about a year. Cable companies were given this year to find the perfect volume for their shows.
Via Engadget
