Page 22 - Summer2019

Satisfying Hung er. Thirst. and Acoustic
comfort in Restaurants. Diners.
and Bars... Is This an Oxymoron?
Kenneth P. Roy We all go to thzseplaces, but how can we ensure that the acoustic environment will
Address: be conducive to our needs?
LeShanShui Consulting LLC _ _
136 Magnum Drive It s Probably More Than Just Food and Drink!
Holtwood) Pemsyjvanja 17532 All of us go to a restaurant or diner for food and drink, but unless you are going
USA alone, you will probably wish to have a conversation with your companion(s) while
‘ enjoying a meal, Or, if you are on the way to a bar and grill, then you may also
Emmi: be interested in watching “the game” on the oversized TV(s) or even listening to
kenneth.p.roy@gmaiLcom “live music.
Keely Siebein Once you enter the eating establishment, the issue of acoustic comfort comes into
Address: play; it is part of the interior environmental quality (IEQ) associated with an archi-
siebem Assn“-a‘Es_ Inc‘ tectural space. We, as a matter of course, talk about building l_EQ in offices, i.n
625 NW sod] Sue“ health care, and in schools and especially so if designing to meet green or well
Suite C building ratings. But we have not, to date, seriously focused on this aspect of archi-
Glinesvme, Florida 32607 tectural performance for hospitality spaces such as restaurants, but we certainly
USA need to do so.
_ _ _ _ gmflil: People have noticed that noise in restaurants seems to be ever increasing, and more
ksmbem@sxEbem“°“mC'C°m recently, this issue has gotten the attention of both researchers and restaurant cus-
tomers. A Special Topics Session on this subject was presented at the December 2017
Acoustical Society of America (ASA) Meeting in New Orleans. At that meeting, a
paper was given by Faber and Wang (2017) that provided analyses of crowdsourced
sound levels in both restaurants and bars in New York City. In total, sound level
surveys were collected from 2,375 restaurants and bars using the smart-phone app
SoundPrint (soundprintco). Noise levels vimre categorized as “low,” “moderate,” and
"high," with high levels being over 76 dB(A). By comparison, normal voice levels
are generally taken to be about 60 dB(A) when conversing with someone at about
an arm's length, so the measured noise levels in eating establishments are easily 2-4
times as loud as a normal speaking voice.
We discuss SoundPrint more fully in Sound.Print and Crowdsourcing Sound Levels
at Restaurants, and the Faber and Wang (2017) paper has an extensive list of refer-
ences for anyone who is interested in more information on this topic.

Architects Design to Meet a Mission
When an architect sets out to design/build a new building, the focus has to be on
meeting the mission for that buildings use. For an oflice building, the mission is
simply to have a place to do “work.” For a school building the mission is for a place
to “learn,” whereas for a hospital, it is to have a place to "heal? So, following this

approach, what is the mission for a restaurant, diner, or bar and grill?

20 | Ami-uumagy | Summer 2019 | volimie 15, issuez ©2019 Aci7iuti:alSi2ciety o]Americn. All righzr reserved.
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