If you live somewhere where there is a fair amount of traffic noise (as I do) you'll know how annoying it is everytime a car or motorcycle passes your house interrupting whatever it is you are watching at the time. God forbid a jet should fly overhead at any time, for this is likely to drown out any TV sound for a substantial period. In these circumstances it would be nice if your TV would adjust the volume to the level you set it at versus the amount of background noise you are now experiencing. Granted, you may end up deaf if you live near the airport but just imagine your wife nagging at you while you're trying to watch monday night football. The louder she screams the less you'd be able to hear her. Sheer bliss.-- nixter, Feb 04 2003 How would this differentiate its own noise from the noise it's trying to overcome? Otherwise, you'd turn it on and it'd just get louder and louder.-- oneoffdave, Feb 04 2003 That's straightforward, every speakerphone has to deal with that issue, dave.
I know there are some car stereos that do this, I've gotta think somebody has baked this for in-home equipment too. The only links I can find relate to adjusting the sound to compensate for varying content (i.e. the commercials are louder than the show).-- krelnik, Feb 04 2003 Showing my ignorance of things electronic there then.-- oneoffdave, Feb 04 2003 I recall how they (they being the usual nefarious scary corporate overlords) did a study of commercial / program volume because of consumer complaints of loud ads. Conclusion? The ads aren't louder that than shows, they just 'sound' louder (because they're tweaked & processed). I loved that...-- snarfyguy, Feb 04 2003 This wouldn't work in our house, as the kids get louder to compensate for the TV! (Visions of adults beating a hasty retreat before an MTV/kiddiescreaming wall of sound)-- egbert, Feb 04 2003 Some car tuners can do this already. They compensate for road and engine noise the faster you go. There's usually a setting for how much to compensate, and my father doesn't understand it so he just leaves it off. *shrug* So the technology does exist, but I like the new application.-- ArmoredHeart, Feb 04 2003 random, halfbakery