What? I can't hear you.
Yesterday, I went to see Dune: Part Two with some friends. Though less enthusiastic about the crowds, I was excited to see the film because I’m a longtime fan of the novel, and the first film did an excellent job of adapting its initial half. It’s not a perfect job, but it’s close enough to be thoroughly entertaining.
We chose the IMAX screen because we wanted the most overwhelming experience, and that’s where things started to go wrong. Because IMAX is loud. Very loud. It’s so loud that it’s at hearing-damaging levels.
A few years ago, I got a viral infection (not COVID) that attacked the nerves in my right ear. My auditory and vestibular nerves became inflamed, and because the passage through which those nerves go is narrow, they were crushed. I was rendered permanently and profoundly deaf on the right side.
I wear a hearing aid, and it helps a little, but one function of the hearing aid is to protect what hearing I still have. So, when presented with blasts of noise, it shuts off. And it shut off during the showing.
The problem arose during thirty minutes of trailers. My hearing aid shut down defensively, and though I hoped it’d switch back on during the movie, that didn’t happen. After a few minutes of dead silence in my right ear, as the movie progressed, I realized this was not how I wanted to experience that film.
I left and didn’t return to my friends. No one was more disappointed than me.