Shush! Loud TV Ads Face Scrutiny in U.S. House

Long a source of annoyance to dedicated television watchers, the excessive volume of commercials is finally being addressed on Capitol Hill: The House is expected to soon take up legislation that would ban ads that are louder than the programs that they sponsor. After all, with 435 members, the chamber almost certainly has its share of couch potatoes.

The measure is called the CALM Act -- Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation -- and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) told the Wall Street Journal it is the most popular bill she has advocated in her 18 years in Congress. "If I'd saved 50 million children from some malady, people would not have the interest that they have in this," she said.

The existing standard for "too loud" is that ads should not be at a level above the peak volume of the programs they interrupt, the Journal said. But that peak may be a spike, such as an explosion or siren, well above the level of dialogue between characters in a sitcom or a drama. Commercials can buzz along just below that peak, causing some viewers to dive for the mute button.

Ad industry officials tell the newspaper that sound mixers aren't trying to shock consumers into listening, but are merely one-upping the volume of adjacent ads -- sort of an arms race for listening ears. But countries like Australia, Brazil, France, Israel and Russia are already regulating noise levels.

Eshoo got on the case after her elderly parents started turning up the volume on their television set -- and the commercials were "enough to blast me off the couch and out of my own home." Her bill is expected to come to a vote during the current lame-duck session. The Senate, in a quiet voice vote, passed a version of it in September.