How Restaurants Got So Loud

[ashling]

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/11/how-restaurants-got-so-loud/576715/?utm_medium=social&utm_term=2018-11-27T16%3A26%3A06&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR25zi_8r5e8wPTD35tAT7rGXWkgRsylaf7sOvLvl4Kho-PuR0h9Xle6Cz0

Let me describe what I hear as I sit in a coffee shop writing this article. It’s late morning on a Saturday, between the breakfast and lunch rushes. People talk in hushed voices at tables. The staff make pithy jokes amongst themselves, enjoying the downtime. Fingers clack on keyboards, and glasses clink against wood and stone countertops. Occasionally, the espresso machines grind and roar. The coffee shop is quiet, probably as quiet as it can be while still being occupied. Even at its slowest and most hushed, the average background noise level hovered around 73 decibels (as measured with my calibrated meter).


That’s not dangerous—noise levels become harmful to human hearing above 85 decibels—but it is certainly not quiet. Other sounds that reach 70 decibels include freeway noise, an alarm clock, and a sewing machine. But it’s still quiet for a restaurant. Others I visited in Baltimore and New York City while researching this story were even louder: 80 decibels in a dimly lit wine bar at dinnertime; 86 decibels at a high-end food court during brunch; 90 decibels at a brewpub in a rehabbed fire station during Friday happy hour.

Restaurants are so loud because architects don’t design them to be quiet. Much of this shift in design boils down to changing conceptions of what makes a space seem upscale or luxurious, as well as evolving trends in food service. Right now, high-end surfaces connote luxury, such as the slate and wood of restaurants including The Osprey in Brooklyn or Atomix in Manhattan.[/di

I know I am getting older, but I have had problems with Restaurant noise for sometime.... but then I have had serious tinnitus for some time, too.

I remember taking a hearing test given at school in 4th grade. (those were the days) I was supposed to raise my hand when I heard a tone. I raised my hand and was told that the test hadn't started yet.

[SWBTATTReg]

1. We leave when or if the noise volumes are too loud. It's getting to the point that we won't...

support a bar or restaurant that's too loud. Why would one support such a place, when you can't even hear yourself?

[Rorey]

4. I think the entire population is going deaf

Not completely, of course, but I am amazed that people can tolerate such high noise levels.

My husband tells me that I have super hearing. I think it's just that I've tried to protect my eardrums by avoiding loud noises.

[SWBTATTReg]

5. Really, it certainly does make you think about everyone going deaf...

I'm already 90-95% deaf, so I just simply leave my hearing aids in when we're in a loud place and read lips (turning off the hearing aids, they don't work very well in loud environments). You're smart to protect your hearing, it only takes a little bit of noise to damage them.

[Rorey]

7. I'm so sorry

My favorite aunt, my "person", was almost completely deaf and also had macular degeneration and was mostly blind. She was sharp as a tack through her whole life. Not being able to participate in conversations was very hard for her. If there was a way for me to have given her one of my eyes and one of my ears, I would have done so in a heartbeat.

I've never enjoyed going to rock concerts because they're just too loud. I even tried some of those earplugs that are supposed to shield your eardrums without distorting the sound, but they didn't seem to help. My husband has always loved concerts and loud music, and he was a heavy equipment operator for a long time and rarely bothered to wear ear protection. His hearing is mostly gone. i think he kind of guesses at what is being said and gets it wrong a great deal of the time.

[SWBTATTReg]

9. Your aunt sounded like a neat person, as well as you, in wanting the best for her. ...

I hope your husband gets perhaps at least one hearing aid and try it. It may help. It does take some adjustment, like it did in my case, but in a way, I was lucky, I didn't know what I lost hearing wise (was born w/ the losses).

I'm used to the losses, but you're right, you do miss stuff, such as the conversations w/ people but everyone around me knows of my hearing loss so they make sure I'm watching them (for the lip reading), and my other half will repeat something back to me if critical. This is where you can help your husband (and I'm sure you're already helping him).

It is a difficult transition for those who had the hearing, and then lose it, but hearing aids are getting better. The better thing for most people is to not just get the hearing aid(s) but to develop a whole lifestyle around the hearing loss and thus, migrate some of the negative impacts somewhat. Lip reading for example. You can't get rid of all of the negatives, but you can go a long way. Attach lights to the doorbell, phone, etc. A whole lifestyle of changes, some minor, others major.

In my case, since I was born w/ it, I never viewed myself as disabled, and grew up w/ it so I was better prepared than a lot of people are in handling the losses.

Take care and best wishes for the holidays!

[Rorey]

11. You are so sweet

Yes, my aunt was a very special person, and very special to me. I wish I was like her. I try, but I fall short. But I'll keep trying. I think about her a lot, even though she's been gone for seven years, and thinking about her gives me the motivation to try to be more like her.

My brother used to scold me for talking so loudly into her ear, but she appreciated it. He is one of those high energy people who really doesn't seem to have the patience to slow down his world so others can be a part of it. My aunt and I had such great conversations when it was just the two of us. She always used to tell me that if she could have either hearing OR vision it would be so much easier. But she was thankful for what she had. She was a great role model.

My husband is a very stubborn man. I've bought some of those over the ear headphones so he could hear the television better. He didn't like them. I got him a speaker to have on the table by his recliner so he could hear better. He does use that some of the time. Your suggestion about one hearing aid is great. I'm going to try to get him to try it. He doesn't like to have things in his ears, but maybe if he just gives one hearing aid a try he'll do okay with it and then he can get the other one.

[skypilot]

19. I'm 54 years old...

...but I remember being in my 30s and telling the bartender at my regular watering hole to turn the jukebox down. The place is NOT a dance club--just a dive bar with a pool table--but the music was cranked up to dance club volume. The bartender did turn down the volume but then joked "If the music is too loud that means you're old". I told him that if the music is too loud that means that my ears are working properly.

[ashling]

10. I generally just stay home

Introvert and don't like crowds.

Usually don't eat at restaurants except at lunch, and then after most of the lunch crowd has left.

But the, I am retired and don't have a lunch"scheduled" for me.

[Rorey]

12. I can relate to that

I don't know if I'd call myself an introvert. I like visiting with people, but I REALLY like my own company best.

And I like my own cooking best too.

[ashling]

15. I think if I were you

I would feel like you do ...

but, then, being me,

I feel like me ... at least most days

[Phoenix61]

2. That was one of my Dad's pet peeves.

It's a valid point. Those nice white tables cloths and heavy window dressings weren't just for looks, they dampened the noise level. I noticed the beginning of the trend at a Bennigans around 79-80.

[LeftInTX]

20. Bennigans was the first place that I thought of!!!

[Rorey]

3. Texas Roadhouse

I don't think I'll ever go into that place again, unless it's for my birthday freebie. In some sections of the restaurant you can't even have a conversation because it's so loud.

[TexasBushwhacker]

18. And they're blaring COUNTRY music

Yikes! I can't even talk to the person next to me without putting my mouth to their ear.

[Coventina]

6. I have grown to hate hard surfaces in restaurants.

Sounds just reverberate off the floors, wall, ceilings...it just gets unbearable.

I'll be so glad when this design fad is over.

[Wounded Bear]

8. My brother and I go to an old school diner for breakfast...

The back room, which has tables and chairs instead of booths, which fit us better.

Can be noisy as hell because of all the hard surfaces. It's not really upscale, it's plain tile floors and painted walls, but if a large group gets in there and pushes a couple of tables together, it gets really cacophonous.

[LAS14]

13. Wow! How interesting that what I thought was ignorance about acoustics...

... in designing a restaurant was actually a choice. They WANT it to be noisy. Interesting and depressing.

[geardaddy]

14. Yes, they want them to be noisy

so that when there are fewer people it seems like there are more people in the restaurant.

[bif]

16. The louder it is, the more fun everyone's having.

That's my theory of what they're thinking of when they design a restaurant's interior.

[Lars39]

22. It also moves people through faster.

More people equals more money.

[Jim Lane]

17. A constructive suggestion from an article linked in the linked article

There's a free app called iHEARu that's fairly new. (The article, "This New App Is Like Yelp for Noise at Restaurants", from February 2018, describes it as originating in San Francisco, with rollouts for other cities planned for later in 2018. I just checked for NYC and it has begun, although only a few places are covered so far.) You can use a smartphone to monitor the noise level at a restaurant or other facility and upload the information. You can also scroll through a Yelp-like list to see what information about noise levels has been provided by other users.

My hearing impairment is bad enough that, even with my hearing aids, I often have problems in noisy restaurants. Noise level is definitely a factor in my selection of a venue. It will be great if this catches on and a lot of places are rated.

[Voltaire2]

21. I yell at all the restaurants to get off my damn lawn.

[Major Nikon]

23. Noise pollution is taken seriously in many areas of Europe

Meant Americans simply don't understand the concept of inside voices. You get people who inconsiderately talk loudly in public and eventually when there's enough of those everyone else has to talk loudly just to be heard. It certainly doesn't help that restaurants often have poor designs. My wife and I refuse to go to dinner at a loud restaurant. It ruins the experience regardless of how good it is otherwise.

Here in Texas just about every other car and motorcycle is in a contest to see houd loud and trashy they can make their vehicle sound, so eating outside is also almost always a bad option.