Pertinence of Music for Everyday Audiences

Hello everyone,
As a media student I was surprised how underrated sound was compared to other media forms. Perhaps this is because we are bombarded with visual images all around us and sound becomes taken for granted as a 'secondary' sense. In media studies sound has also been a 'second cousin' to the visual, especially in film. Music in particular has been neglected as an area for academic study. Without giving special thought to the role of music in various media, I think it passes as taken for granted and as background noise to many audiences. While it certainly adds another depth to many films (even subconsciously), in other media forms its hardly noticeable. Take television for example, unless we are specifically watching a music oriented programme such as C4, we hardly take notice of the music used to cue in programmes such as the news. While watching advertisements, when a catchy tune comes on that I may recognise, I wouldn't give it much consideration beyond the length of the ad. One exception comes to mind for the Sony Bravia television with all the coloured balls bouncing down the very steep road. Obviously the brightly coloured balls are representing the high colour definition of the television, but the music really enhanced the advert to the point where it was mentioned on Campbell Live and also had references on many internet sites. So, while many viewers may not often overtly acknowledge the importance of music in visual media formats, they would seem dull and lifeless without it, just as the early 'silent' films would have lacked a vital component without the piano music which accompanied it.