As Loud As Allowed

Remember TV contests where the winner was picked by how loud the audience applauded? The on-screen metering imagery wasn't always authentic, but there are real scientific instruments to do the same thing... Measure the absolute, or relative, level of loudness.

The guys in the lab coats can confirm what any couch potato with ringing ears already knows: commercials are damn loud.

Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA) first introduced a proposal to limit the loudness of TV ads in the summer of 2008... A little late to make it through that session. And the bill was swiftly overwhelmed by the din of campaign attack ads, screaming car dealers, lower priced car insurance and household gadgets demonstrated TO an audience of carefully selected shills or BY Billy Mays.

So Eshoo tried again in 2009 with the the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act.

Audio: NPR's All Things Considered, 01/02/10.

While the free market think tank guy typically advocates self restraint over government regulation, in the heat of competition, or the quest to obliterate competition, self restraint doesn't have a great track record... It's readily sacrificed when a competitor's lack of self restraint is perceived to be advantageous.

TV stations or networks do the same thing. If you channel surf during widespread coverage of the same event (like the State of the Union message) you'd hear different audio processing on each channel, most of it trying to sound louder.

Radio does the same thing, almost like it's screaming for attention.

And so does the music industry.

Every technical advance to make media sound better is ultimately sabotaged by media ownership's drive to make their product louder.

Audio: NPR's All Things Considered, 12/31/09.