The show was great but too loud

Today Elli and I went to the Science Centre.  On most of our trips we do the same activities and see the same exhibits as the previous trip (much to the delight of Elli, less so for me) but this time we got to see the CSI show which was certainly new and different.  The people manning the information booth were decidedly unhelpful but that did not deter us.

"So, my daughter is 4, is this show suitable for her?"


"The show is fine for kids."


"Okay, but she is only 4 and has no idea what CSI is... will she enjoy herself?"


"Everything at the Science Centre is designed for kids."


Yeah, I know that everything at the Science Centre is designed for kids, but you have to be pretty clueless to not suspect that shows that a 12 year old who is a big fan of CSI will enjoy are different than the shows a 4 year old who can barely read the letters CSI will enjoy.  I wouldn't mind if a random employee was only this helpful but this person's only responsibility was talking about and handing out tickets for the CSI show.  Your whole job is being able to describe one thing!  Be descriptive!  Tell me things!

The show itself was actually really well done and even though it was regularly way out of Elli's range of comprehension she had a great time... mostly.  When we left her summary was "The show was great but too loud."  I couldn't agree more.  The microphones the cast used were set too high but it capped out at unpleasant.  The music on the other hand was set to 'rock concert' and caused both Elli and I to immediately clap our hands over our ears in shock.  Even with my palms anchored firmly to the sides of my head I found it too loud and yet the rest of the theatre sat there seemingly unaffected.

I am paranoid about noise.  Whenever I visit my grandparents I am pained by watching my grandfather sit on the edge of the room unable to take part in conversations.  He has so much to say and so much knowledge to impart but solo conversations are challenging and when there is background noise at all no communication is possible.  I find the idea of watching my own parents go through that frightening to contemplate and even more so when it applies to Wendy or I.  For years I have worked hard to limit my exposure to loud noise for that very reason and as such I find it particularly aggravating that a place like the Science Centre would decide to blast the audience with music at a volume that certainly causes long term hearing damage.  Not much damage, of course, and on its own completely harmless... but so is the smoke from a single cigarette.  The greatest part of extreme hearing loss results from our modern society and the noise we create and as such we have a responsibility to not exacerbate that problem for no reason.