Noise Problems in Restaurants

Abstract

The gathering of many people in restaurants, bars, canteens and other kinds of eating establishments is often very noisy, and for that reason verbal communication can be difficult, or even impossible for people with reduced hearing capacity. Although a complicated acoustical problem due to the feed-back influence of noise on the speech level, a simple prediction model for the ambient noise level due the speech is suggested. It is found that the noise level increases by 6 dB if the number of people is doubled. In order to achieve a sufficient quality of verbal communication a high volume and a short reverberation time is needed. A minimum of 3–4 m² absorption area per person is needed for sufficient conditions, and 6–8 m² for satisfactory conditions. It is suggested to label the rooms with the “Acoustical capacity”, i.e. number of people which should not be surpassed for sufficient quality of verbal communication.