Yes, ads are loud, but that question isn't even addressed until about five minutes into this video, because first we have to define our terms. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, whether it makes a sound or not all depends on how you define sound. Once you get past that, defining loudness is also pretty subjective. Does it depend on the physical nature of sound waves, like amplitude or frequency? Or is it a matter of what hurts your ears? Sound perception is very subjective. And people can argue about the average sound compression of a 30-second ad as compared to averaging the sound level of a two-hour movie (which has its own issues), but it comes down to advertisers just want to be as loud as possible to make sure you hear them. When I typed the title Loudness is All in Your Head, I could hear (metaphorically) someone reply, "No, it's in your ears." Whether it happens in your ears or your brain, both places are literally in your head, okay? Yikes, I just now realized that was about the post title when I put this video on Neatorama. I went back to the original title for this version.
The last minute of this video is an ad, and it's only as loud as the rest of the video.
3 comments:
In the UK the law states that: 'the maximum subjective loudness of advertisements must be consistent and in line with the maximum loudness of programmes and junction material.' However, in far too many instances that is completely ignored. Which is just one reason that I record anything on a commercial channel to watch later when I can skip the adverts.
Sorry, I have to call "BS" on this theory that "it's all in your head". The volume of commercials are most certainly amplified, in fact, in the past you could buy a device to mute the volume during commercial breaks. The device would detect increased amplitude and would mute your tv until the amplitude decreased.
https://www.smarthomehut.com/how-to-mute-tv-commercials/
I did not mean to imply that ads being louder than content was all in your head. We all know that's true. The part about being all in your head is the entire concept of sound and loudness, which is hard to define.
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