Washington, D.C.--Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY), co-sponsored a bill, to silence television advertisements which blare at ever-increasing volume. H.R. 1084, the Commercial Advertisement Mitigation (CALM) Act, was approved by a voice vote this week, and will prevent television advertisements from playing at a volume noticeably above that of the regularly scheduled programs.

“It seems that every year the volume on commercials seems to get louder and louder to the point of not only distraction, but of inconvenience. I have received numerous complaints from people in my district about this practice and it is about time that this was addressed. This measure provides people with an uptick in their quality of life so that after a hard day’s work they can sit quietly in their family rooms and not be jolted by a blast of volume on their TV sets. Families that have small children trying to sleep will no longer have to guess as to which commercial and which channel will have excessive noise,” said Rep. Engel, a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The Federal Communication Commission has stated that loud commercials have been the top consumer complaint for decades. Current policy advises Americans to “mute” the offending commercials if they are too loud. The CALM Act will require advertisers to adopt industry technology within one year to modulate sound levels and prevent overly noisy commercials.

“This solution will not prevent companies from advertising on television, nor should it. In fact, it would make it more likely that consumers will actually watch the commercials if they weren’t blown away by the volume,” added Rep. Engel.

The measure now awaits action by the Senate.