Has anyone noticed that the sound level in movie theaters has steadily increased over the past few years? No, I'm not talking about obnoxious people sitting behind you... it's coming from the speakers.
This is especially true with the trailers before the movie starts, you have two choices: Go deaf, or cover your ears. I'm dead serious here, it's gotten to where at times it's downright painful.
Sure, movie explosions and music building to a crescendo have always been the louder parts of films... but lately the audio level has risen to the point where I sometimes find myself covering my ears!
What gives? Is this what happens when you put teenagers in control of the audio in the projection booth? Sure, I listened to my music so loud it blocked out the external world when I was 16, but to inflict that on a couple of hundred people is just not right.
Not everyone thinks the volume needs to be turned up to a "10", got it? I don't pay my money to sit in a chair and be subjected to super-loud audio interrogation techniques.
So movie theater managers (yeah, I realize you're teenagers too) get your highly trained staff to turn down the bloody volume!
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Article comments
1 - RJ
But how better to get their marketing across than to FORCE you to stop your private conversations and PAY ATTENTION!!! :-/
2 - Vic
Stopping conversation is one thing, delivering permanent hearing damage is another. :-(
Vic
3 - RJ
Tell that to every band I've ever seen perform live! :)
4 - Vic
Now see, that's a different thing altogether. Going to a rock concert, or to see a band play at a club, I *expect* my eardrums to bleed.
Not so going to a movie.
Vic
5 - mike hollihan
It's public life in general that's getting loud. I'm a mild agoraphobe and an antisocial misanthrope, so I don't go to big public stuff much any more. I've noticed that *everything* is loud.
I went to a minor-league ballgame and the music and PA hurt my ears. Malls are noisy in the extreme. Open-air concerts and festivals have overpowering PAs. Etc.
It's a gradual creeping up of the threshold. Background noise is loud, so people speak up to be heard. People are louder, (and ruder, too) so the background has to be turned up. On and on and on.
6 - Sandy
I completely agree so what can we do about loud trailers??
7 - Anna
I went to see "The Help" this weekend, and the trailers were so loud that I tried making earplugs out of a piece of paper. Most of the people in the audience were senior citizens, and the theater was one of the small theaters within the mega-theater. By the way, there was no one to complain to. There didn't seem to be any employees except in the concession stand and the ticket booth. We walked right in without having to show our tickets.
Maybe they could sell earplugs in the concession stand. The sound for the movie was fine, but the trailers were deafening. Theater owners...listen up! We senior citizens don't rely on Netflix and computers for our movie viewing, and in a few years, we may be your only customers. Don't run us off!