• AP, Wednesday, December 16, 2009 10:31 PM

The House on Tuesday voted to level off the abrupt spikes in volume felt by television viewers during commercial breaks. The bill - approved by a voice vote -- is aimed at stopping TV ads from playing noticeably louder than programs. The FCC had been inundated with complaints.

Managing the transition between programs and ads may require TV broadcasters to purchase new equipment. To address the issue, an industry organization recently produced guidelines on how to process, measure and transmit audio in a uniform way.

The bill requires the FCC to adopt those recommendations from the Advanced Television Systems Committee as regulations within a year and begin enforcing them a year later.

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