I've asked movie theater management, especially in SoCal, to turn down the volume many many many times. I think all the Facebook generation of kids in SoCal are deaf.

No, I asked them to turn down the volume in Tangled / Princess Rapunzel and the Secret World of Arrietty. There's absolutely no reason for Rapunzel or Arrietty to be having conversations at 98db.

The automotive carnage was nice though in the first 15 minutes.

I had my hearing tested a few years ago after I noticed a very slight tinnitus in a very quiet room. Turns out it was due to hunting with a shotgun as a youth. 3dB down at around 4 kHz. Everything else was good down to 0dB, so not bad. She did tell me that the week before she fitted a 26 year old with hearing aids. He had been listening to music in his car with huge sub-woofers since he was 16. He came in because he was having trouble following conversations. She said he had the hearing of an 80 year old.    Protect your ears! I take some musicians earplugs to every concert or movie I go to. Lucky for me the last wedding reception I went to they put me in charge of the music. 

You really want to hear loud, go to a high school dance sometime. Makes the movies sound quiet. You will have tinnitus if you stay the whole time for sure.

All of these read like hearing horror stories compared to what I'm subjected to in Malaysia. I'd say my hearing is still in good shape judging from my last medical checkup 6 months ago. I rarely, if ever, go out and watch movies in cinema, and even then, I don't feel that the cinemas here sound as eardrum tearing as what I'm reading here. Never been a partygoer, so clubbing is an alien concept for me.

Interesting read all around, and somehow I feel compelled to get some sort of earplug just in case now.