In my household growing up the ads were almost always muted as soon as the roll started.
I always found it bizarre that other people did not do the same
I always found it bizarre that other people did not do the same
Since ad sections are your typical break from a program to get to the fridge or toilet or whatever, the DSP transform makes sure you still hear the ads and pick up dialog even when far away from the TV.
Downmixing audio so that you can both hear dialogue and not lose eardrums to music and 'splosions seems to be an intractable decades old problem for the movie industry but it sure as hell been solved a dozen times over by the ad biz.
It was very shocking to go from 75dB to an ambient 30dB or something like that out in the countryside. I'd have much preferred to talk over or zone out over the commercials without the suddenly shocking lack of auditory stimulus!