Isn’t It Time for Film Industry to Listen?

As a colorful and apparently lighthearted afterthought to his piece on mastering the art of noise in film soundtracks, David Kronke quotes a young theater patron as saying he almost went deaf at the beginning of “Batman Forever.”

It would seem to be hypocritical of an action-movie thrill-seeker like me to rail against the unchecked decibel levels in theaters. However, after my wife and I were forced to flee from the Mann’s Village in Westwood after those first few deafening seconds of “Batman Forever,” it occurred to me that recent technical advances in sound recording for the movies may lead to serious if unintended consequences.

In 1991, I developed tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and hyperacusis (increased sensitivity to sound) after my air bag popped open following a car accident. Though it may have spared me greater injury, the deployed air bag, according to my doctors, could well have been as loud as a shotgun going off in my ear. Fortunately for me, my ear problems resolved after some months. But now I have a heightened awareness of the risk of serious injury from sudden auditory overload.

Because of my history, and because as a professional musician my hearing is important to me, I would never dream of attending any movie without earplugs at the ready. As a result, over the past four years I’ve experienced no discomfort at a movie theater, until “Batman Forever.” And my wife, who has enjoyed hundreds of movies and rock concerts without ever wearing earplugs, experienced ear pain and nausea for at least a half-hour after we left the theater.

Digital technology itself is not the villain. Even the most reactionary proponents of analog technology would have to admit that the digital realm has given consumers unprecedented access to a huge dynamic range and microscopic clarity of recorded sound.

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I think it is fabulously entertaining to experience a sequence like the train crash in “The Fugitive” in all its visual and sonic glory. Why shouldn’t directors, with formidable cinematic tools at their command, hope to actually transport us to the scene of such disasters?

The problem is these places can be dangerous. Bruce Willis has fun aping an ear problem after one of the many detonations in the recent “Die Hard” sequel. But certainly the sound technicians don’t envision an entire audience leaving the theater with similar complaints. (In my experience, recording engineers have a high incidence of both transient and permanent hearing injuries.)

Perhaps the most disquieting revelation in Kronke’s article is sound mixer Dennis Maitland’s suggestion that theater technicians freely disregard the reference tone that is sent out with the movie print. If true, couldn’t this practice cause problems far more serious than sound that is, as Maitland put it, “so loud it’s irritating as hell”?

Some exploration of this hazard--temporary or permanent damage to theatergoers’ hearing--would have made Kronke’s piece more balanced. After my own recent experience, I wonder whether the movie industry’s reference tones are too liberally calculated, or whether my local projectionist simply ignored the production standard. All I know is that being forced to miss “Batman Forever” makes me want someone to die hard with a vengeance.