Reducing Noise in Restaurants: Feasibility and Recommendations

A recent study investigated the negative effects of loud background noise in restaurants for adults over the age of 60. 1 The researchers simulated a restaurant in a sound booth with 31 older adults with varying levels of hearing loss. They found that in certain levels of background noise, the speakers raised their voices, reported increased communication disturbances, and described less willingness to spend time and money in the restaurant. F1 Restaurants, noise, acoustics. These negative outcomes occurred due to a cycle of bothersome noise generated by the Lombard effect, which is the unconscious tendency to increase one’s voice in a noisy environment. In restaurants, patrons act as sources and receivers of noise, which results in a noisy environment that is challenging to manage. 2 The researchers concluded with two main findings: 1) that the negative cycle of the Lombard effect is reduced when background noise is less than 60 dB(A), and 2) that restaurant owners should try to keep their background noise levels between 50-55 dB(A) to be inclusive of older adults with hearing loss, allowing them to understand the speech of their dining partners.