The National Soup Federal Agency released a report yesterday showing soup-truck jingles now average 88.3 decibels, up 0.8 decibels each year since 1952. Dr. Marcus Hale, the agency’s Chief Decibel Strategist, links the rise to missing ice cream and the resulting dairy shortfall: “Without enough cooling power, summer soup sales will push both sound and heat past safe limits.”
Fourteen more suburbs may soon need FCC permits for their jingles. Maplewood Heights and Westfield Oaks already describe an “auditory shimmer” that keeps people awake and turns fence-height disputes into shouting matches.
Bakeries expect a 9 percent drop in county-fair visitors because cakes lack the usual ice-cream sidekick. Council member Linda Crumpets noted that summer events feel flatter without it.
The NSFA warns that the jingle volume will keep climbing through the season.
