Heading out to the "Autism Friendly" movie theater event, morning version. Lots of considerations are allowed.
They leave the lights on, but low. Also the sound is adjusted to a more reasonable level for those who can still hear. You can bring your own refreshments, if you want. If I remember correctly the picture is also projected smaller.
There is an "autism friendly" movie theatre event?
As a projectionist, I'm used to defending (or at least explaining) the high volumes in theatres today. Here's a quick recap:
When I adjust the volume for a new feature--yes, I do that for every single one--I listen to the dialogue, in other words, when people speak in normal voices. The dialogue must be measured, pleasent to listen to, and never too loud. When the dialogue sounds OK, I'm happy.
In the olden days of mono sound, but also Dolby Stereo A or SR, this adjustment made for a good listening experience. The dialogue and any sound effects the film had would all be delivered to the audience in a manner that kept tinnitus away.
Problem is, these days most films come in a digital sound format, usually Dolby Digital. There's a LOT of dynamic headroom for special effects. If they want to mix a film to have low-key dialogue but quite literally ear-bursting sound effects (=explosions, planes, thunder, music, etc, etc), they can do it. And quite often, they do, especially with any new action flicks. With the coming Bond feature, you can rest assured that whatever the sound level of the dialogue, the effects have a license to kill.
There is an additional problem, one that's even more common. See, many movie producers actually understand the above, and mix their films accordingly. Unfortunately, the theatres are often not properly aligned--the frequency response in an auditorium is not good, and the high-frequency sounds (the ones that produce the "s" in the dialogue) are the first casualties. Which is bad, because often when the audience complains about high volume, they are actually complaining about bad sound, distortion of the higher fruequencies.
The ear reacts against the distortion, the brain simply interprets the sound as being too loud.
Call your nearest cinema service provider.
