A nationwide trend for restaurants in larger cities has been to do away with heavy tablecloths, drapery, carpeting, and other elements that tend to absorb reverberant sounds in open spaces. The result: potential for a high noise environment that can make understanding speech difficult. The design components that contribute to excessive noise may include lots of windows, hardwood floors, lack of tablecloths and high-ceilings. The Wall Street Journal article titled, "Pass the Salt...and the Megaphone" provides a perspective on noisy restaurants.
I think the article provides good insight into restaurant designers' ideology and the lack of involving acoustical engineers during the design process to help deal with the sound issues. Based on the interviews by the author with some restaurant goers, it appears as though both younger and older crowds have complaints about noisy restaurants. Good news is that some restaurant owners have recognized the problem at hand and have implemented acoustical treatments to help absorb reverberant surfaces.
One of the cool features of the article is called "How Loud is it?" where you can listen to noise measured by WSJ at a few restaurants in the U.S., including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston and NYC. The samples include noise at the hostess stands and table where the reporter sat.
There is also an interactive guide that allows you to mouse over different areas of a restaurant in San Francisco to read about critiques by Tom Thunder, an audiologist and acoustical engineer from Northern Illinois University.
An excerpt from the article about the SF restaurant pictured above read: "The staff of La Mar in San Francisco realized noise was a problem immediately after opening, says general manager Andrew Generalao. It was a "low priority," Mr. Generalao says, until a local reviewer printed that the decibel level was 80—just under the level audiologists consider damaging to hearing after long-term exposure."
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