{"id":261552,"date":"2026-08-08T10:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/261552\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:00:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:00:07","slug":"philadelphia-residents-question-sound-levels-at-movie-theaters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/261552\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia residents question sound levels at movie theaters"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

A couple of weeks ago, Richard Whiteford and his wife went to their local movie theater near West Chester, Pennsylvania, to see \u201cThe Odyssey,\u201d one of the most anticipated films of the year.\n<\/p>\n

It tells the story of Greek hero Odysseus\u2019 journey home after the Trojan War, and all of the mythical creatures and perilous obstacles he encounters along the way.\n<\/p>\n

But Whiteford, 79, said that he and his wife struggled to enjoy the movie because the volume in the theater \u201cwas just so insanely loud.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

Whiteford had previously been concerned about noise levels in movie theaters, and had installed a decibel meter app on his phone.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to my decibel meter, we were subjected to 110.2 dBs for several minutes many times during the action episodes,\u201d he wrote in an email, along with screenshots of the app\u2019s readings.\n<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a range that could potentially lead to hearing damage in some people.\n<\/p>\n

A few weeks later, when he took his grandson to see the new Spider-Man movie, they could hear \u201cthundering\u201d sounds from \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d playing next door.\n<\/p>\n

He began to wonder: Have movie theaters become significantly louder? And what\u2019s the impact of that noise exposure? He already has some hearing injury after working in the music industry for over 20 years.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that I\u2019m facing hearing loss myself, it\u2019s more of a prominent issue for me,\u201d Whiteford said.\n<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no clear answer on whether movie theaters have definitively become louder, but film run times are, on average, longer today than they were in the past. Viewers are often sitting through varying degrees of soft dialogue and explosive noises<\/a> for more than two hours.\n<\/p>\n

Movie theater volume is generally safe in most cases, said audiologist Frank Wartinger, an adjunct professor in Drexel University\u2019s Osborne Audiology Department. He specializes in helping musicians, performers and others in the music industry protect their hearing and manage hearing loss.\n<\/p>\n

But concerns about excessive sound and possible noise-induced hearing loss<\/a> should always be taken seriously, he said.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you consistently listen at a level that is harmful and dangerous, that does catch up,\u201d Wartinger said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the most common public health concerns, and it\u2019s one of the only public health concerns we have right now that is a hundred percent preventable.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Safe and dangerous decibel levels at the movies<\/p>\n

The intensity and loudness of sound is measured in decibels, with very low numbers either inconsequential or safe, and very high numbers indicating potential for harm.\n<\/p>\n

Wartinger likes to compare this range to how we look at temperature, measured in degrees Fahrenheit.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cSounds that are up around what we call conversational level, like the level that you would put your radio or your TV if you were to choose the level for those, are usually in the 60 to 70 decibel range,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s also room temperature, isn\u2019t it? That\u2019s what we set our houses to or our cars to if we have a choice.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

At around 80 to 90 decibels, the sound might resemble a crowded bar, a hair dryer or street traffic \u2014 uncomfortable, but manageable.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then there\u2019s a certain point where things go from uncomfortable to potentially dangerous or harmful for our health,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen we get above 95 to 100 degrees, it\u2019s still healthy to be outside briefly, but longer duration exposures to those temperatures can harm our health over time.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-261552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}