The one thing everyone agrees on, regardless of politics.

**Askthepizzaguy** · 09-30-2010, 23:59

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100930/...ud_commercials

The Senate finally passed the most important piece of legislation in our time, with a unanimous vote.

And I, for one, couldn't be happier.

Now, we can get back to our divisive political discourse in peace, and relative quiet.

**gaelic cowboy** · 10-01-2010, 00:13

I read somewhere that actually they are the same sound level it is just some kind of electronic wizardry that makes it seem louder.

If you had a decibel meter in the room it would probably not show any great variation between the programmes.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17229281/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7388473.stm

**Askthepizzaguy** · 10-01-2010, 00:25

Originally Posted by gaelic cowboy

I read somewhere that actually they are the same sound level it is just some kind of electronic wizardry that makes it seem louder.

If you had a decibel meter in the room it would probably not show any great variation between the programmes.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17229281/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7388473.stm

That I will not believe.

Often television programs I watch have highs and lows in their broadcast, but the immediate sound impact of the first commercial, sustained throughout, causes hurt to my ears and even gives me headaches.

Either I have been a victim of mass hypnosis, or there's a difference between programs and commericals which is very real.

**gaelic cowboy** · 10-01-2010, 00:37

No it's not hypnosis it's just you ears and brain are very good at telling the difference of the type of sound but they aint as far as I have ever been able to find actually louder.

**Askthepizzaguy** · 10-01-2010, 01:02

Originally Posted by gaelic cowboy

No it's not hypnosis it's just you ears and brain are very good at telling the difference of the type of sound but they aint as far as I have ever been able to find actually louder.

Originally Posted by your article

That means the loudest TV commercial will never be any louder than the loudest part of any TV program.

Yes, there are loud parts of a TV program, but that loudness is not sustained throughout.

A woman screaming, a gunshot, a car chase, etc, will be louder and exciting, and we expect that part to be loud, brief, and then return to normal volume.

People on commercials are marketing something, so there is usually someone speaking like directly into the microphone in a way that sounds like they are right in your ear, at a level of loudness equal to that woman screaming or that gunshot.

Sure, it's no louder than that, and we're used to the TV programs having brief bursts of loudness, but the sustained shouting (literally, like with car commercials, where some overly enthusiastic knucklehead is SCREAMING at my face about how low his prices are) and the loud background music (much louder than typical television program theme songs, which are designed to be pleasant and not as ear-popping, and not sustained throughout the program) all combine to make one violent, non-stop noise which is basically like listening to a woman shrieking for 30 seconds.

Sure, it's no louder than the loudest part of a TV show, but it is sustained loud and unpleasantness that won't go away.

Most advertisersdon’t want nuance. They want to grab your attention. To do that, the audio track is electronically processed to make every part of it as loud as possible within legal limits. “Nothing is allowed to be subtle,” says Brian Dooley, Editor-At-Large for CNET.com. “Everything is loud – the voices, the music and the sound effects.”

**Rhyfelwyr** · 10-01-2010, 01:07

Where is Barry Scott?!

**Tellos Athenaios** · 10-01-2010, 08:10

Originally Posted by Askthepizzaguy

That I will not believe.

Undoubtedly commercials are not at all meant to be pleasant, but there is some truth in that they seem louder than they actually are. The reason is that commercials focus on a spectrum of sound frequencies to which the human ear is more sensitive to than other spectra: namely the spectrum of human speech.

I guess it is an evolutionary trait: it pays to be able to distinguish meaningful speech in whispers no louder than rustling leaves if the alternative is to speak loud enough for the bad guy to hear you and shoot you to pieces on TV.

**Hosakawa Tito** · 10-01-2010, 10:33

Hehehe, they probably didn't read this legislation either. Wonder what else got snuck into the bill...

**Sasaki Kojiro** · 10-01-2010, 15:01

I don't understand though...how can something sound louder but not actually be louder? Isn't sounding louder sufficient for it being louder? Like if something tastes sweeter it actually is sweeter, regardless of what kind of sugar it has.