In particular, "Lost" and "24" are two examples ... We're in our sixties, and my hearing is not quite as sharp anymore BUT these two, for example, have so many conversations in low, whispery tones while there's noise in the background that I could scream! Normal programming, like news, Jay Leno, etc., no problem at all.

It's just certain programs ... anybody else have this problem? Of course, I hate to miss a single word! British and Aussie accents add to it as well!

I don't watch Lost but we have been fans of 24 for the last 3 seasons. It has been the same the whole time. I usually have the remote in my hand because I'm constantly turning the volume up or down. the background music is so loud we can't hear what's going on. My DH is going to drive me nuts with is complaining about it. ......... I'm glad to know it's not just us.

i'm young and i have the same problems. we actually bought some wireless headphones so we can control it easy and actually hear things.

I am hard of hearing and it drives me bonkers when I can watch some tv shows fine, and others I have to pull out my aids or turn on captioning.

Some shows they just talk too fast and mumbly. Like the Gilmore Girls. I tried to watch that show because so many of my friends liked it, but it was impossible for me to keep. They just talked too fast and the captioning was one of those that wasn't always complete (and who wants to read the whole time anyway!?).

What irritates the living crap outta me is how the commercials are set so loud. I finally get the volume just right on a show, then a commercial comes on and blows out my ears.

And, I'm with Zen on the speed talking. I could never really get into "Sports Night" or "The West Wing" because of it.

I was just thinking that as I was reading this thread. The shows are bad enough, and I'm not hard of hearing, but then add the extremely loud commercials and it makes me crazy!!

We were watching Lost last night and the sound was terrible.

We had to keep adjusting it.

Yep, I had trouble hearing Lost last night, and I've had a lot of trouble with House, another Fox show (I don't watch 24).

Thanks for all your replies ... So it's not just us! Clydegirl & Amy, "Lost" was bad last night. Remember when Julianne (?) and Sawyer were *murmuring* to each other, with the ocean roaring in the background? No matter how loud I turned it, I missed a couple of words! They try to make it SO REALISTIC, and I think our surround sound makes it worse!

Tell us about it: When we watch PBS, we have to turn the volume up because their dynamics are so low (British shows are particularly bad in that respect but last night we were watching the George Carlin tribute and the sound level was low there too), then when we switch over to the local station showing reruns of 2 1/2 Men and Everybody Loves Raymond, the volume is WAY LOUD! On our old TV set, we'd sometimes turn on the closed captions, which helped, but we got a new digital set last fall and the closed captions on that aren't so easy to read (especially on a news or other live program). Maybe I should get my mom one of those wireless headphones?

I don't watch many current shows, so I can't comment on those, but the British version of The Office was so hard to understand. I would have the volume on max and still couldn't catch everything.

Tammy, I love the NBC Office and I've been mocked by a few people because I didn't get into the British version. But I think that's a big part of it, I couldn't even understand half of what they were saying!

I depend on Closed Captions as I'm full deaf. To answer your question, yes I do! And my friends do also! Hmph. It is better than watch blah blah blah and know nothing!

I am not deaf but we have the Closed Captions on as the actors on TV speak too fast, murmur, whisper (they don't teach speaking or diction anymore, apparently)... and my family talks/calls out all the time!!!... Also subtly forces our non-reader to read!!

I love seeing old threads resurrected! I wonder if 'back in 2009' was closed captioning even available??

I ALWAYS have closed captioning on for regular TV shows, and movies. I just used to miss so much otherwise when people are murmuring, whispering, or if poor production values makes them hard to hear.

Oh and try watching the movie "Snatch" without captioning

about loud commercials, a couple years ago there was an Audi commercial that was incredibly loud, my husband and I nicknamed it the "Loudy" commercial, it was really amazing that the extra loudness was legal.