Often overlooked in the design of restaurants are the acoustic conditions necessary to provide the relaxing experience people desire. By having an open plan space with hard, reflective surfaces and many people trying to have separate conversations, noise levels can quickly escalate, forcing people to raise their voices in order to be heard.

This is the cocktail party effect. Voices are raised to cut through the already high noise levels and this adds to the problem as voices are raised further to compensate. Acoustical privacy is also compromised by the close vicinity of neighbours and reflective surfaces allowing sound to travel and speech levels. One of the biggest complaints with restaurants today is the ever increasing noise level.

In order to introduce an ambience where communication is suitably relaxed and the people sitting nearby aren’t hearing other people’s conversations, careful layout design and material choice is necessary. Individual booths would solve this problem but not every owner wants this. The use of sound absorption materials can drastically reduce the reverberant sound to combat these problems.

No matter how good the food, instead of a nice enjoyable evening out with friends, it becomes an unpleasant experience and the patrons never return.

Hanging Una 3D Green Leaves on the walls will create beautiful organic looking art pieces with the additional benefit of acoustic absorption. In the entrance way create a feature using Anne Kyyro Quinn’s Tulip in a complimentary colour.

And finally create the effect of stunning booths using Airflake, affording some privacy to the diners, while still allowing staff to see everyone.

Contact us now to discover how Primacoustics can help in the design of your restaurant acoustics.