Bending our ears on noisy ads

The blandest, most inoffensive ad ever made can still cause real offence – if it’s blasted at you at high level during an ad break. Although our in-box isn’t exactly clogged with complaints about the sound level of ads, there’s no doubt that it can be a real irritant. In 2005, we therefore investigated three specific complaints concerning over loud ads in breaks on ITV, Bravo and Five. Although there are clear technical guidelines and rules that ads must follow, many factors affect how loud they seem as you watch them. Imagine a carpet showroom ad, first in the break following on from a deathbed scene in a drama; it’s going to seem much louder than it actually is. Also, certain sounds – a scream in a horror movie ad, for example – can seem much louder than a champagne cork, yet register the same volume on a meter. We enlisted the expert help of Ofcom’s technical department, who conducted tests for us. In the case of the ads on ITV, they found that the soundtracks of the ads in question (broadcast in February 2005) had, like many, been ‘highly compressed’. This meant that, although they did not peak at higher levels than their surrounding programmes, their sound levels had been treated artificially to make them stand out. Although ITV had attempted to reduce these levels, they still sounded louder than the programmes around them, and were therefore found to be in breach of the Code. Similarly, we also upheld the complaint against Bravo, for an ad break that appeared during a re-running of the old Knight Rider series. Although we recognised Bravo’s argument that the digital sound of modern ads was very different from the old analogue soundtrack of the programme, we still found that the maximum sound level they allowed was too high, and in breach of the Code. Ofcom also made a similar discovery when assessing Five, and this complaint was upheld also. In each case, our purpose was not to punish, but to improve. As a result of the investigations, each channel was reminded to make sure that their output levels comply with the Code. Meanwhile, we have embarked on a six-month rolling programme to monitor the sound levels of ads, and to work with the broadcasters to achieve a consistent performance on air.