- Restaurant diners debate whether large, rowdy groups should be banned
- Experts say design choices can help reduce sound in restaurants
Noise levels can make or break a restaurant experience for some diners, so experts have revealed how they can be so loud and what solutions businesses have.
Visits to sit-down restaurants declined nearly five percent in 2023 from a year earlier, according to location analytics firm Placer.ai.
Restaurant patrons have complained that noisy groups ruin their meals and have even debated whether large groups should be banned from fine restaurants.
However, experts say some design changes could help reduce sound and keep customers at their tables.
“I think it’s a question of why restaurants have become noisier, because I think there’s been an aesthetic change,” said Lily Wang, director of the Durham School of Architecture, Engineering and Construction at the University of Nebraska. Washington Post.
Noise levels can make or break a restaurant experience for some diners, as some debate whether large groups should be banned from good restaurants.
“You know, we want to design an environment that’s either industrial or cool.”
Wang said that while people talking are a source of noise, their bodies also act as sound absorbers and reflectors.
“You know, concert halls design chairs to absorb the same amount of sound as a normal human body,” he said. “This way, it sounds the same whether the place is full or not.”
Wang explained that moving plates and talking produce sounds through the vibration of molecules in the air.
That vibration does not move in a straight line, but rather moves outward as a growing sphere of sound waves.
When waves move through a restaurant they can interact with objects, Three things can happen, depending on the materials involved.
“Some things are reflected, then there are things that… will continue to spread… and then there are things that are absorbed,” Wang told The Post.
Lily Wang, director of the University of Nebraska’s Durham School of Architectural and Construction Engineering, said restaurant layout may be part of the sound problem.
In a confined space, when someone raises their voice, others unconsciously react by raising their voice, creating a feedback loop called the Lombard effect.
Sound-absorbing materials, such as foam or fiberglass, placed on ceilings and wall panels can help channel sound waves, but are often considered unsightly and expensive.
Experts suggest that for people who do not want to install sound-absorbing materials, there are designs that can include physical barriers that can help prevent voices from floating into the restaurant.
It may be helpful to space tables and seat diners away from sound sources, such as a ventilation system or the kitchen.
Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema recommends that people can avoid the noise by eating early, when the dining room is less crowded, or sitting at tables.