"Wow," he says softly on hearing it from his doctor, one of many small things which Christopher Walken, as Peter, nails beautifully.
He records his excursions, even if they only take him on to the steps of the accommodation block, with gentle excitement: a cupful of boiling water thrown into the air will freeze at once "with a soft and percussive 'whoosh'"; exhaling softly he hears "an unfamiliar sound: the vapour in my breath was freezing immediately it left my mouth.
Our bodies speak in whispers and nudges, sometimes too softly to hear over the loud negative voices in our heads.
At one point, we see Don from a long way away, and very softly, we hear the sound of the ocean.
Over the wall, more softly now, was heard "Don't You (Forget About Me)," by Simple Minds.
Although the views are impressive, the traffic on the road can be heard softly in the distance from the river-facing deck and yard.
(But most New Yorkers probably do not know that the large vault outside the Oyster Bar works as a whispering gallery. Someone facing the wall at one corner, speaking very softly, can be heard clearly by another person facing the wall in the diagonally opposite corner, 40 feet away).
At times, when he's describing the guitar Paul McCartney used to play the "fiercely angular slide guitar solo" on Drive My Car (an Epiphone Casino "first used on the coda of Ticket to Ride"), or the exact point on Within You Without You that George Harrison can be heard "softly counting in the tabla player" (3:46), you sense there is no detail that escaped MacDonald's attention.
Its comforting whistle can be heard softly all over town.
Those waiting with us could be heard softly uttering respectful remarks in more than a dozen different languages.
