Measurement of advertisement sound levels to respect Italian rules

Italian Framework Law n. 447/1995 on noise pollution, in order to contain annoyance deriving from conspicuous and sudden variations in sound levels produced during television advertisements, specifies that “it is prohibited to either public or private radio and TV networks, to transmit advertising messages whose sound power level exceeds the ordinary level of the programmes”. Government Standard n. 157/06/CSP, introduced by the Communications Regulatory Authority to implement Law n. 447, requires the assessment of sound levels by monitoring 30 paired sequences. Each pair includes 30 seconds taken from the television programme and 30 seconds from an advertisement. According to the Government Standard, advertisements should not exceed the sound level of television programmes by more than 15%; to be considered significant this limit should be exceeded by more than 30% of the paired sequences analysed. This papaer presents the results of the assessment carried out by means of phonometric measurements, performed by setting frequency weighting “A” and time weighting “fast”. The proposed methodology discusses technical feasibility and inherent problems, in order to identify improved solutions.