[finder83]

Sure, that may be the case that they turned it down. It seemed to be a widespread issue though across a lot of reviewers and opinions.

The sound engineer interviews in that article are interesting though, and they seem to be blaming Nolan and the mixing as well.

I also get wanting to turn them down. I've been in theaters so loud that my ears were ringing after the movie, or were actively hurting during certain scenes. The Dark Knight was one of those. It could also just be poor settings at the local cinema in that case as well though.

Given the vast majority of movies are understandable, I just wish Nolan would mix with that goal in mind given I would actually enjoy his movies most of the time if it just weren't for the muffled speech and sound.