Extreme sensitivity to TV commercials

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It must be how repetitive some commercials are, and how often some stations play certain ones. That's why I like to turn up my iPod/ computer volume and put on my headphones whenever a TV commercial is on.

Hats off to your son. He knows the script. Adverts are recorded at a higher volume than tv shows because they know people leave the room at intervals. But also the vision on screen is much more vivid with adverts. Our commercial world ups the volume as time goes on to ensure they are continueing to grab our attention. Unfortunately for us that means we get sensory overload when adverts come on.

Your son sounds like me.

Some commercials are annoying I am sick and tired of hearing that Your Baby Can Read ad I am starting to fast forward it now. It's becoming my fingernails on a chalkboard.

Plus commercials seem to be loader than TV shows or movies and maybe he is sick of seeing them. Luckily I can tune lot of it out but that Your Baby Can Read really sticks out. Plus that Brush Your Teeth song annoys me too the station keeps playing. Certain commercials annoy me because it gets tiring to keep hearing it when they play it all the time.

But commercials come in handy when you are doing other things. Then when the show or movie comes back on, you can take your break again to watch it until the next commercial.

TVs exist that have an option to reduce the volume when commercials come on. We have one.

I like commercials but not that they get loud, it hurts my ears as well.

1. Obtain DVDS of favorite shows so that there won't be commercials.
2. Get a TV that keeps the volume a constant.
3. Let him have the remote and turn down the volume instead of having him run out of the room. Coping is an important lesson.

Sensory issues can get worse or less worse over time. There seems to be little reason for it. If more issues arise don't think something bad is happening, it's just the way it is for us.

If the comercials are not loud and agravating (I possibly have eppilepsy and rapidly flashing colors are not my friends), they are stupid in content. I want to smash my TV whenever that cartoon with the babies having a urinating contest comes on. I'm no longer able to have children of my own but if I was, this comercial would make me NOT buy their product. Have the babies sit at a confrence table and dicuss why their diapers are so much better than the other brand or something like that. Maybe the one in the leaky diaper could constantaly having to leave so s/he could have it changed and finnaly his/her mom or dad puts them in the diaper being advertised they comment, "That's so much better." and goes on about how his/her new diaper is so much better than the old one. Most comercials make me want to make an effort NOT to buy their product. I know people who refuse to eat at Burger King ever since they introduced that creepy king. I noticed they are using him less and less so perhaps Burger King got the message. If comercials do not have stupid content, like the peeing babies one I previously mintioned, they are too loud or flashy.

I usually use Sky+ so I can skip the adverts. Apart from finding the adverts irrating they also ruin the programme flow. I could be sitting down watching a programme and then advert comes on and then have to wait and be bored for 5 mins for the programme to resume.

I find loud TV commercials annoying as hell too

Even though this discussion is a bit old I still thought I would write from our experience.
My son is 15 now. He never really liked commercials. He used to try to break the tv. (pull it down, throw something at it). The sensitivity to it never went away. We all basically adjust ourselves- we shut the tv off if he is coming in the room. Even putting the volume down to zero isnt good enough. he will say "man, dont say ...."
I know he still hears it! This has carried over to many other things: loves movies but sometimes hates the previews played before, hates public tvs, we cant go to a restaurant that
has a tv playing (even just watching with no volume on will send him into a tizzy).
I think the way some of the lights flash and go fast -commercials cost so much so they really try to get a lot into that short period of time. It is too over stimulating to someone who has super sonic sensitivities to sounds, lights, etc.
The other thing he hates is the radio on in the car. If it is just music he is ok. but when the commercials come on or the radio announcer or news.. he freaks.
No solutions to this. Though he has been doing years of music therapy and that has helped him with certain pitches and sounds.
I think there are so many reasons why these things can bother kids & adults on the spectrum. and I also think there are reasons we will never fully understand. I was trying to describe it yesterday to a young lady who works with my son and the best example I could think of is the way some people hate the sound of nails scratching on the blackboard and how it gives you super chills. I hate when I write with a pen but forgot to press the button for the point to come out.. that sound it makes when it scrapes along the paper gives me the worst chills. I think they might get something like that but maybe much worse. like a form of torture for them. so they lose all control.
??? We might never really know.

Commercials aren’t just horrible because they’re louder than the programs. They’re also horrible because of how amazingly obnoxious they are. At least half of them are made by people who think that being as annoying as possible is the best way to sell their product. Would anyone in the world be able to tolerate the girl from the Progressive insurance commercials for more than five seconds in real life? I doubt it.

I read an article not long ago about people calling their broadcasters to complain about the commercials being louder than the programs, and they claimed that they couldn’t control it and people should contact the networks. The networks, unsurprisingly, insisted that the commercials are not louder than the programs, and offered a list of bogus reasons for why they only seem louder. Total horses**t.

Our HDTV has one of those settings that supposedly lowers the volume during the commercials and it’s turned on, but I can’t notice a difference at all. Also, I fear that commercials will only get even louder now that they know these settings exist.

Your son must be a smart young man. Commercials should be ignored until the advertisers learn not to insult our intelligence by being purposefully obtuse and obnoxious and deceptive.

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