We're all familiar with this situation - you're watching a nice quiet show or movie on TV - then ads come through at a much higher volume. Instead of hurriedly searching for the remote control to reduce the volume - build the following project by Instructables user "techbitar". By using an Arduino board with a sound level sensor, and an infra-red transmitter - the system monitors the volume, and if it reaches a pre-set level - sends the IR code to the TV (etc) to reduce the volume. A quick demonstration is in the following video:
You can modify the sketch yourself to work with different remote codes, so it isn't limited to just a television. For more details visit the project page. And for more, we're on twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.
To test audio sampling yourself you can make an easy start with a simple electret microphone board, and our Freetronics MIC: microphone and sound module is perfect.
The MIC: contains an integrated dual signal amplifier converts the sound to separate channels for pulse / frequency measurement, and sound volume (pressure) level. Designed to connect straight to an Arduino compatible microcontroller, Analog to Digital converter, or many other circuits. For more information and to order click here.
