It would make more sense for theaters to have headphones to give an extra boost to people who need it. Some theaters have a system called Hearing Loop which will send the movie audio right to the person's hearing aids, without having to deal with other background noise that might be in the theater.

> Hearing Loop is an induction loop system which magnetically transmits the auditorium sound to compatible hearing aids. Our guests who have hearing aids with T-Coils can link directly into the theatre sound system at the touch of a button on their hearing aid. This delivers our guests a crisp and clear sound free from background noise and no headset is required. Hearing Loop is available at Landmark Theatres in Chicago and Aquarius Theatre, San Francisco Peninsula.

https://www.landmarktheatres.com/httpswwwlandmarktheatrescom...

I don't think movie volume goes down for everyone else, because these things exist. It just gives these people extra help, when they still have trouble, as loud as it is.

I don’t think it’s true at all. I think they play it loud to play up the rollercoaster aspect of seeing a film — of getting you viscerally involved with what’s going on onscreen.

It's not; there is a nominal series of standards for this.