Oscar-Winning Sound Designer Johnnie Burn Put Microphones in His Ears for 'Tuner'

Johnnie Burn, the Oscar-winning sound designer behind "Hamnet" and "The Zone of Interest," built the soundtrack of Daniel Roher's "Tuner" around a condition he lived through himself: hyperacusis, a rare hearing disorder that turns everyday sounds dangerously loud.

Burn tells Variety he experienced a mild version of hyperacusis in his late teens. "People who suffer from it chronically go through a devastating experience of not being able to possibly recover or go outside," he said. "I had this situation where I witnessed an explosion, and I went 100% deaf for about 20 minutes. When my hearing came back, I had hyperacusis and extreme sensitivity to everyday sounds."

When the script arrived, his first response was, "I know what this is." He calls "Tuner" one of his most personal projects to date.

What is 'Tuner' about?

The film stars Leo Woodall as Niki, an expert piano tuner whose acutely sensitive hearing is sometimes debilitating — one reason Niki has never chased his dream of being a pianist. The condition serves his profession, and he discovers it also serves safecracking. Niki gets in too deep with a gang of thieves while entering a relationship with gifted musician and composer Ruthie, played by Havana Rose Liu. Roher, the Oscar-winning documentarian behind "Nalavany," directs.

How did Burn research the sound of hyperacusis?

He had microphones placed inside his eardrums and went about his daily life. "I was recording things from my ears' point of view, and playing it back later to understand what things become fairly loud that your brain would normally dial out because they're not threatening, such as putting a pan in the dishwasher or even a shower tap — everyday sounds that can break through," he told Variety.

The experiment fed directly into the film's layered sound design. Burn created distinct listening states for Niki: one from Niki's point of view, and another for moments when Niki wears ear defenders that restrict sound. In one scene, Niki sits at a traffic light and a motorbike pulls up alongside him.

"That's really about teaching the audience that there are these different states in which he can be listening to things," Burn said. "The aim was to have the audience experience it alongside him, which is obviously with hyperacusis. It's not like deafness or anything. It's a situation where everyday sounds can become dangerously loud for you."

What does the Dolby Atmos mix change?

Burn pushed the sound design hardest in the film's Dolby Atmos mix, sitting with Roher to fine-tune every decibel. "The different points of view of Niki's hearing were a fundamental part of whether or not the film worked. I believe we cracked that," Burn said. "The Dolby Atmos mix was a further development of that because it gave us the ability to predominantly play sound at a much greater volume all around us."

Whether audiences find that volume illuminating or punishing may be the test of the premise — but Burn, having heard the condition firsthand, has staked the film's success on making viewers hear it too.