So it's not a conscious effort from the advertisers, just lazy TV studio sound tech's and cheap equipment?
 They should get 20 lashes for that no? 
 
 I would imagine our local station overuses the leveler too, I've heard many cheaply made adds that the speaking dialogue was so bad you couldn't make out what was being said. They seem to play them all the time never making an attempt to fix it.

If I may, I will suggest that you may be drawing the wrong conclusion.
 
The loud TV commercials... the ones that really are louder than everything else... they are actually louder.
 
If everything is peaking at the same limit a focus on the perceived loudness is the only way to get the loudness to seem consistent. That's what the discussions are really hoping to achieve. The discussion gets complicated because in addition to the psychological studies regarding how humans perceive loudness we also have the basic nuts and bolts of statistical analysis and all the considerations that go into assessing levels over periods of time. Add genre suitability to the discussion and you have a three major considerations to coordinate into a policy of sorts. 
 
Peak levels are not appropriate for defining loudness limits... the idea is that we need a more sophisticated methodology... and there have been many used by some networks and not by others over the years.
 
best regards,
mike

You may and I'll certainly consider, makes sense actually.  

ohgrant
 So it's not a conscious effort from the advertisers, just lazy TV studio sound tech's and cheap equipment?
 They should get 20 lashes for that no? 
 
 I would imagine our local station overuses the leveler too, I've heard many cheaply made adds that the speaking dialogue was so bad you couldn't make out what was being said. They seem to play them all the time never making an attempt to fix it.

As for me, I'm not claiming it is any one particular thing. I would guess it is a combo of laziness, client pressure, incompetence, budget issues and simply being fooled by the louder is better.  The station i worked at had a small staff that required a lot of people do a lot of things.  The equipment was actually very good but there was simply no budget for someone to man it beyond just making sure it was functioning.
 
  I know from my perspective, i often get clients that ask me to make their ads louder.  Not so much because they like loud, but because when they hear their ads back to back with other louder ads they feel somehow cheated.  I usually try to explain in layman's terms that what i submitted is actually correct and the other people are not only causing noise pollution but violating federal law.  It often falls on deaf ears.  Most can be talked down some but others I have to resort to squishing dynamics to give them a better sense of perceived loudness on the spot. Until tv stations start rejecting ads that are too loud it won't change.  I have had ads rejected for all kinds of things  but never for loudness violations.

 Interesting, thanks. I guess laws and guidelines are useless if people aren't willing to follow. I guess governing agencies probably don't have a clear understanding of the problem to even know how to enforce the policies.

I have told my friends they have to complain.  bug your tv station, cable company. In a minor defense of stations.  One of the challenges we faced with this issue was that our programming was a combo of live, multiple satellite feeds, file servers and the occasional DVD or beta tape .  The satellite feed signal was never consistent.  Right now I am hoping that if these laws are enforced on some level it may take out the most egregious offenders.

Those commercials ARE louder, and for a reason.
They are designed to "Get your attention"

When the volume suddenly goes up, you LOOK at your TV,
even if you weren't.  That's the idea.  To get you to LOOK.

There's method to the madness in advertising ON EVERY LEVEL,
both perceptual and subliminal...

 
cclarry, that's right
http://broadcastengineeri...udness-law-goes-effect
 

Good stuff, I didn't realize the law just came into effect. I will be more observant when I watch TV, I don't really do that very often but I will be sure to email my local station and the FCC if it continues on a few of the locals that has been hollering in our ears through a distortion box here for decades.
I can install my old capture card and measure the loudness of the add pollution as evidence no? Eh, not today, think I'll just play BF4