Restaurant Acoustics

Modern Restaurant Acoustics: The Ultimate Noise Trap

In 1998, The San Francisco Chronicle introduced a noise rating system to its restaurant reviews; the first newspaper to do so.  Nearly two decades on and the newspaper’s restaurant critics continue to dine with small sound measuring devices tucked out of view. The review system, which rates restaurants’ noise levels from one bell (“pleasantly quiet”) to five bells (“too noisy”), is a sign of our growing need as consumers to not only have a tasty meal, but have one accompanied by a pleasant sound environment. While this awareness is evident all over online complaints of “noisy restaurants”, most restaurants still don’t have acoustic treatments.

 

There are a number of combining factors that create a poor acoustic environment in restaurants, which harms diner satisfaction:

Poor restaurant acoustics are often cited as one of the top five reasons that a diner would not return to a restaurant. The following reviews appear on the popular travel website ‘TripAdvisor’ and are just two of the over 2,000 negative restaurant reviews that talk of poor restaurant acoustics:

(Click to enlarge)

Above are both reviews of modern restaurants in London that share the following features: bare tables, stripped floors, open plan designs and open kitchens. These are all features of the modern restaurant. The industry has largely discarded carpeting, table cloths and heavy curtains in favour of sleek, modern designs.

While keeping up with the times may be visually appealing, it ultimately sacrifices diner comfort. The prevalence of hard, reverberant surfaces in a large, open environment means noise is reflected from surface to surface, prolonging the time it takes for noise to die out; also know as the Reverberation Time (RT). This adds to a room’s echo and ambient noise levels. Throw into the mix open bars and kitchens, the cluttering of a kitchen, vibrant conversation and live music, and you have a clamorous and uncomfortable noise environment.

Whilst some see this as part of a lively, bustling restaurant – as the previous reviews show us, many see it as the difference between a return visit or not. A study which looked at the the response of different age groups to the acoustics within a restaurant established RT as the crucial factor in determining comfort within the space and satisfaction with the dining experience. The results identified the optimal range for reverberation time to be between 0.5 and 0.7 seconds.

Restaurant Noise And The Effect On The Diner Experience

In April 2014, The Boston Globe newspaper in the United States tested the decibel levels at eight modern restaurants in the Boston area. The results ranged from 66 decibels (a safe range similar to normal conversation levels) to 97 decibels (equivalent to the sound of a motorcycle; with a risk exposure limit of eight hours daily). The average recorded decibel level was 78 decibels, equivalent to the sound of heavy traffic noise. What consequences do these restaurant noise levels have for diners, however?

Contact Us For A Free Acoustic Survey Of Your Restaurant