From.

TN ARTHANARI RETD DEO B16 , ezhilnagar 2nd street Judge road Salem 636008 Tel nop 0427-2404469 To, cbereaders@thehindu.co.in The Editor, The Hindu, Coimbatore 15 Title Sir, During watching of any serials, cricket matches and events in the TVs we come across undue and exorbitant sounds for the advertisements especially for cinema advertisements. The decibel (abbreviated dB) is the unit used to measure the intensity of a sound. The decibel scale is a little odd because the human ear is incredibly sensitive. Our ears can hear anything from our fingertip brushing lightly over our skin to a loud jet engine. In terms of power the sound of the jet engine is about 1,000,000,000,000 times more powerful than the smallest audible sound. Thats a big difference. There are different decibel ratings for various kinds of sound for e.g. a whisper 15-dB, a car horn 110 -dB, a gunshot or firecracker 140-dB. All of the ratings above are taken while standing near the sound. Any sound above 85 -dB can cause hearing loss and the loss is related both to the power of the sound as well as the length of exposure. We know that we are listening to an 85-dB sound if we have to raise our voice to be heard by somebody else. Eight hours of 90-dB sound can cause damage to our ears; any exposure to 140-dB sound causes immediate damage (and causes actual pain). Even a short term exposure can cause permanent damage. We talk much of noise pollution because of loud speakers in streets, temples, bazaars, buses, marriage halls during festivals and household functions but we do not cognise the noise pollution because of T.V. advertisements. We should never forget that hypertension and various Psychological difficulties are also caused because of our exposure to noise. TN ARTHANARI 4.1.2012 Salem. : Advertisements in TVs