Conservative MP wants to lower volume of loud TV ads

TORONTO, Ont. - If you're stressed out and fed-up with the number of television commercials using the "volume blast" technique to get your attention, relief may be on the way.

Conservative MP Nina Grewal wants to lower the volume on extra-loud TV commercials.

The B.C. politician has introduced a private member's bill that calls for changes to the Broadcast Act, requiring television broadcasters to ensure the volume of a commercial is at the same level as the program it accompanies.

She said it's up to parliament to protect Canadian viewers, and more importantly their hearing.

"It can be irritating, you have to lower the volume and then when the commercial is over and the movie or whatever comes back on, you gotta raise the volume," Nick said in a street interview with 680News.  "I think this is a great idea, it should have been done a long time ago."

Grewal called the loud commercials a "daily stress" for Canadians, and said it's a complaint she hears all too often. If her bill passes, it will be up to the CRTC to create some sort of regulation forcing commercials to have their volume limited.

Not everyone agrees, Toronto resident Joe told 680News it's really not a big deal to drop the volume.

"It doesn't really affect me to the point where I get irritated or anything, it's just mostly for effect I think," Joe said. "It's to wake you up, like hello, this is us.  They're just putting their business out there."

On the other hand, Sasha told 680News while it certainly does get your attention, it may not be for the best.

"Maybe they think that if their commercial is louder it's going to grab the attention, it grabs it, just in the wrong way," Sasha said. "It just turns me off of the product or whatever the service is right away."

In the United States and the United Kingdom, there are already laws preventing commercials from airing at a higher level than the rest of the programs.

The House of Commons is expected to debate in March whether a similar law is merited in Canada.