Shut Up, Loud TV Commercials

AmericaBlog notes that the UK Advertising Standards Authority recently ruled that several television commercials on ITV3 were "excessively strident" and breached the sound level code.

While there would be significant support in the US for regulating those annoying noise blasts that occur when programming pauses for commercial breaks, it seems sort of pointless to get our legislative branch involved in such a trivial matter.

There's a problem here that is easily solved with technology. Why aren't television sets equipped with a sound stabilizer that works the same way as a bathroom shower regulator that keeps a user from being scalded if someone flushes a toilet?

Simply limit the amount of sound increase permitted by viewer interaction. People who don't care wouldn't need to do anything, but those bothered by the sudden, rapid increase in commercial volume could easily configure their sets to maintain a modicum of decibel sanity.

What can I say? I'm a problem solver.

Image via Wikimedia Commons