Noise Pollution and the Movies

I love movies. Who doesn’t? And my favorite part is watching all the trailers for upcoming movies. Always has been.

Now a study on the volume of those trailers is causing some to fear that many of these trailers and ads preceding the feature film purposely have very loud soundtracks and the movie theaters are unable to loud the volume!

In this recent study, previews were consistently between 75-100dB with sustained bursts as high as 100-110dB. (Anything over 85dB is considered at risk for hearing loss and OSHA will not let workers be in that kind of environment without ear protection.) Feature films averaged about 15dB lower in each case.

Representatives from the National Association of Theater Owners and the Cinema Advertising Council said three years ago that legislation was unnecessary since the industry would correct the situation on its own. WRONG!!!

Noise pollution is a serious public health problem and it seems that Hollywood is not helping its audiences.

The FCC has mandated a ban on the volume of ads on TV. The same should be done for trailers and commercials in theaters.  Isn’t it a shame that legislation is necessary in place of common sense?