# F1 on TV- What's wrong with the sound levels?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f1-on-tv-whats-wrong-with-the-sound-levels/735762>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 26, 2015, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f1-on-tv-whats-wrong-with-the-sound-levels/735762 "2015-10-26T01:03:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f1-on-tv-whats-wrong-with-the-sound-levels/735762/21 "2015-10-27T14:32:24Z")

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This recent thread on a related topic may be helpful. I’m going to investigate some of the ideas suggested there.

> **[Hearing loss, hearing aids, and home entertainment sound systems](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=773279)**
>
> If you or somebody you know has some good advice about how to make home electronics work better for somebody with a significant hearing loss, help us out? Mrs. Napier has typical age related loss and tinnitus for being 63, but she also has, on one...

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f1-on-tv-whats-wrong-with-the-sound-levels/735762/22 "2015-10-27T16:08:47Z")

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[QUOTE=ftg]  
This is a problem a _lot_ of people have with a lot of programs. Music, noise, special effects sounds, etc. are too freakin’ loud. You turn up the volume to hear the dialogue and the other stuff drowns it out.

Some people luck out with certain settings on their TV, but many don’t. I’ve tried them all to no success.

The TV/movie folk know this and don’t have any interest in solving it. They want to wow people with big booms and such.  
[/QUOTE]

I know someone at Dolby Labs and this is something that has been pissing them off for 20+ years. Unfortunately, there really isn’t a means for Dolby to demand better production - they just make the tools and offer help with using them. The smart networks and movie studios will hire people skilled at surround mixing or even consultants from Dolby, but everyone else just goes to eleven.

At home, I’ve got a macro button on my remote to kick the sound into mono. Very useful.

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**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f1-on-tv-whats-wrong-with-the-sound-levels/735762/23 "2015-10-27T20:57:02Z")

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Surround effects, stereo that can’t be mono, F1 feed shared, cheap flat-screen speakers… all contribute to the problem.

I have surround off, equalizer to voice and it is okay. But it varies by tv audio features and quality of the speakers.

NOTE: Driver radio messages are screened by FIA and then quickly approved for the F1 world broadcast (many are so bad, the can’t be played). It’s a wonder any are able to be heard and understood.

The turbo hybrid engines introduced last year make matters worse, because of the ‘‘brapp’’ sound is lower in pitch than in years past… and the pitch just happens to live in the same range as men’s voices. Whereas the old screaming, high-pitched 15000 RPM NA V8 and V10 engines were never stepping in the same pitch range as male broadcaster voices.  
Forza Ferrari

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