Intolerable Sound says Fielding Greaves of San Rafael in a letter
to the Pacific Sun editor.
I strongly urge Marin parents not to allow their children to attend Pacific
Theater at Rowland Plaza, Novato. The ultra high decibel levels of Dolby
Surround Sound in that theater are intolerable and may permanently damage
the hearing of both children and adults.
The sound level of Independence Day during the 3:15 p.m. showing on July
12, both for the coming attractions for violent shoot-em-up films and
the main feature, were physically painful to the eardrums of both my wife
and myself.
Numerous children in the audience, whether they realised it or not, were
subjected by the theater to some degree of permanent hearing loss. It's
clear that employees and management don't give a damn about viewer comfort.
Twice I complained to employees to ask that the volume be turned down,
to no avail. A third time , I sought out the manager to repeat the complaint.
Employees and manager alike did absolutely nothing to tone down the volume,
and the outrageous physical assault on audience eardrums was allowed to
continue.
It's well known that over-loud noise damges hearing. I personally know
it to be so because of my own World War II "artillery ear."
It's my fond hope that angry parents may launch a class actiion lawsuit
against Pacific Theaters, Dolby Surround Sound, and the management and
operator of the Rowland Plaza theater for the potential damage to their
children's hearing by those agents of deafening noise pollution.
Benjamin Goulart's rebuttal
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