DEAR ABBY: My friends and I have a problem with which we need help. We wear hearing aids, which makes it difficult to hear people talking on some of the television programs, as the background music and special sound effects are so overpowering, they drown out the voices.
For example, in "Jake and the Fatman," the roar of the ocean is so loud it's impossible to understand what the people are saying. It doesn't help to turn the volume up, and we can't do as President Bush suggests: "Read my lips."
I love music, but loud background music is unnecessary on dramatic shows.
Commercials are a problem, too. They are so loud, they blast the hearing aids out of our ears. (Have you ever tried turning a hearing aid down with barbecue sauce on your fingers?)
The advertisers think they are getting our attention with the extra-loud commercial messages, but most people have remote-control sets, and they just shut the sound off until the program comes on again.
Are many of your readers experiencing the same problems? And who can we contact in the television industry to correct this? -- CORA LAIRD, FORT DODGE, IOWA
DEAR CORA LAIRD: The television sponsors have been dodging these complaints for years. Address your grievances to the sponsors of the programs you watch. And while you're at it, write to the Federal Communications Commission, 1919 M St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20554.