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How Restaurants Got So Loud (theatlantic.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: 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.
This trend is not limited to New York. According to Architectural Digest, mid-century modern and minimalism are both here to stay. That means sparse, modern decor; high, exposed ceilings; and almost no soft goods, such as curtains, upholstery, or carpets. These design features are a feast for the eyes, but a nightmare for the ears. No soft goods and tall ceilings mean nothing is absorbing sound energy, and a room full of hard surfaces serves as a big sonic mirror, reflecting sound around the room. The result is a loud space that renders speech unintelligible. Now that it's so commonplace, the din of a loud restaurant is unavoidable. That's bad for your health -- and worse for the staff who works there. But it also degrades the thing that eating out is meant to culture: a shared social experience that rejuvenates, rather than harms, its participants.
This trend is not limited to New York. According to Architectural Digest, mid-century modern and minimalism are both here to stay. That means sparse, modern decor; high, exposed ceilings; and almost no soft goods, such as curtains, upholstery, or carpets. These design features are a feast for the eyes, but a nightmare for the ears. No soft goods and tall ceilings mean nothing is absorbing sound energy, and a room full of hard surfaces serves as a big sonic mirror, reflecting sound around the room. The result is a loud space that renders speech unintelligible. Now that it's so commonplace, the din of a loud restaurant is unavoidable. That's bad for your health -- and worse for the staff who works there. But it also degrades the thing that eating out is meant to culture: a shared social experience that rejuvenates, rather than harms, its participants.
I avoid loud restaurants; I'm sure I'm not the only one. They may look nice, and maybe their looks attract more people than their loudness scares off; but, I do take note if a place is too loud and I don't return- so there is a downside to being loud, they do lose some customers... unless I'm just a unique freak.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
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Can't clean foam and fabric items easily. Smooth flat plastic or metal surfaces are easier to keep clean. Can't afford to live out, due to the burdens of government requirements health insurance, and so on, therefore high population density, and thus more noise. It seems the volume level of a place increases exponentially to the number of people.
So there you have it. Make your bed and lie in it.
Captcha: reform
I was thinking along similar lines.
It seems today with the younger crowd, that dining out has virtually NOTHING to do with 'shared experience' at all.
I've observed more than a few times, a couple that was obviously out on a date.
Yet, rather than spending the time talking and getting to know one another...the were on their fscking phones texting and doing social media. I swear I never observed hardly a second when they both had their phones down and actually conversed and interacted with one another.
And these places were not so loud that you couldn't talk.
Sad, I think our last couple generations have let the devices ruin actual, real meatspace human interactions. How do you actually get to know a potential mate if you don't even talk to them? Geez, how do the young guys today get laid, if they don't have at least some gift of gab? And on the flip side, how do they use it on women if the girls also have their faces constantly buried in the phone?
sad.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
The noise problem noted is made worse by idiot restaurant owners. One local idiot had two tvs and a radio station, all of which were loud, going at the same time. She refused to turn them down. I paid the bill, left, never went back.
Not much later she went out of business. Gee, I wonder why.
Circle the wagons and fire inward. Entropy increases without bounds.
People want to have what they say heard. As the background noise goes up, they talk louder. That brings the background noise level up for others, so they talk louder,
Yes, this has really nothing whatsoever to do with the materials used and everything to do with loud fuckfaces. I am constantly stunned at how loud people are in restaurants. This country is jam-packed with narcissists and the world would be better off if it tipped over and everyone fell into the ocean.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Sorry, while the acoustics of a lot of restaurants leave much to be desired it's really the self-absorbed patrons and staff. You see we like to think we're all in our own world while eating out but the thing is your conversation levels tend to be a bit loud. People when they're going out and eating with others tend to be a little more boisterous anyway, hey they're having a good time right? Because your conversation is above a normal tone, the folks text to you can't hear their conversation. To compensate, they retaliate subconsciously and talk louder too. It especially gets bad with large groups with more than 4 people or with families / groups with kids under the age of 7 are seated nearby. Restaurants/bars et. al. could do us a favor by putting up some noise dampening material but that still won't fix the loud obnoxious clods two tables over who are in their own little world.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
You can buy a variety of acoustic baffling and other sound treatment that looks sleek and modern. In the end, it's just the restaurant being cheap ...
Cheap and ignorant of the problem. I have, personally, attempted to quiet the equivalent of a loud bar: a conference poster session in absolute worst-case acoustic conditions of hard surfaces and an arched ceiling that concentrated noise. The noise absorbing panels cost a total of $3000, delivered at about $100 per panel, two dozen of them, plus shipping. They took the punishingly-loud situation down through very loud, to merely loud --- with 100 people all talking together in a confined space, you can't do much better than that. The panels are sleek, would look good in any modern decor, and, mounted on the ceiling, are entirely unobtrusive.
So we aren't talking a ton of money, which means the restaurant and bar owners are indeed, being either ignorant, naive, cheap, or some combination of those three.
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
Table turnover is one of the key metrics for profitability.
No 1 reason why the American dining experience is utterly crap.
Piss off with all that crap. Want to stop people from wanting to come here? Then mandatory e-verify and mandatory prison sentences to corporation leaders for hiring illegals in the first place. That would have a chilling effect.
Next, no more citizenship upon being born here. Legal parents can take their kid to become a citizen at the social security office where you get your SS card in the first place. Citizenship because you were born here is bullshit. Rewarding people for having a child on a travel visa or because they got to the border is a HUGE incentive for people to ignore our laws.
We could also refuse medical service for non-citizens but we won't.
Of course, none of that will ever happen. There is no political will to implement either of those ideas.
We could also put the corporate tax rate back to where it was in the 50s, that is, over 50% as opposed to the 20 something percent the pay now.
Just remember, the world runs this way because that is how the top .001% want the world to run.
I'm pro-border control. I am also pro-immigrant. LEGAL immigrant. Make the requirements high, and skim off the best folks from around the world. And history shows that border walls do work (unless you're a 1930's frenchman). Not perfect, but look at the total number of successful crossings in Germany, the rest of the iron curtain, great wall of China, Hadrian's wall, and the current famous intra-Korean wall (i.e., DMZ). Heck, even the wall down in San Diego--it forced the illegals to go into the desert to cross. Just because you're not 100% effective doesn't mean you don't do it.