One of the subjects that we all agree on is the unhelpfulness of extraneous or background noise on radio or television transmissions. It seems that this is the number 1 complaint area as far as the BBC is concerned. Most of the complaints come from people with good hearing.
Here is an email I wrote recently to the BBC and below it is the BBC's reply which I think is quite reasonable. It contains some useful links. I do hope that some Hearing Link members will write to the broadcasting media. It's quite easy to do. In the case of the BBC you just go to the BBC website and look for 'Complaints' in the menu.
My email to the BBC
On 1 May 2014 Victoria Derbyshire presented an interesting programme from the Supreme Court. She presented it well and I learnt some things. I wasn't able to hear it at the time so I used listen again.
At approximately 11am there was a resume of recent legal decisions etc which included a Queen's Speech. These extracts were accompanied by a cacophony of sound of no relevance whatsoever to the subject matter.
There was bonging, jangling, thudding etc reminiscent of a troupe of monkeys at play in a xylophone factory or perhaps the collapse of a pile of drainpipes in a store. It was horrible. Most of the time it was very difficult to hear the text over the jangling. Some of the time it was impossible.
My complaint is:
1. What was the point of all that extraneous dreadful noise?
2. Will you promise to stop this nonsense and to treat your listeners
with respect?
Thank you. Yours sincerely, Colin Bennett
Reply from the BBC
Dear Mr Bennett
Thanks for contacting us regarding BBC Radio 5 Live 'Victoria Derbyshire' broadcast on May 1.
We understand you are unhappy with the level of background sound used in this programme.
Background sound levels are an issue common to the broadcasting industry as a whole, but nevertheless one which the BBC takes very seriously. It is difficult to strike the right balance between differing opinions on acceptable levels of noise and music.
Music in particular is partly a subjective matter in which personal taste plays a large part. It's added to programmes for many reasons and can be vital to underpinning moods and feelings, adding dimensions to a programme or conveying emotion. It has many applications in programme making, especially one such as this.
It may be of interest to you to know that in 2009 BBC Vision launched an extensive study into why some people were experiencing difficulties with background sound. This was a huge project involving a panel of 20,000 TV viewers from all ages and backgrounds and conducted in collaboration with the Voice of the Viewer and Listener, the Royal National Institute for Deaf People and Channel 4.
As a result of this research we now have a ‘best practice guide' which is available on the BBC Academy’s College of Production website. This will provide programme makers with an overview of the things they can do to make a difference to the audience’s ability to hear and therefore enjoy our programmes to the fullest possible extent.
The 'best practice guide’ can be accessed via this link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/search?query=sound+matters
There's also a blog by Danny Cohen, the Controller of BBC One, which you can read here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tv/2011/03/is-the-background-music-too-loud.shtml
We do apologise you found these levels to be inappropriate on this occasion, the important point to note is that the BBC acknowledges that this is an issue for some sections of our audiences and one we are constantly working on improving across our output. We take the issue very seriously as naturally we want all of our audience to fully enjoy our programmes.
To this end your feedback on the subject is very much appreciated and would like to assure you that we have registered your concerns on our audience log. This is a daily report of audience feedback that's made available to many BBC staff, including members of the BBC Executive Board, programme makers, channel controllers and other senior managers.
The audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content.
Thanks again for taking the time to contact us.
Kind Regards, Neil Salt, BBC Complaints, www.bbc.co.uk/complaints