Treatment and acoustic panel for restaurant: reduce noise

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Treatment and acoustic panel for restaurant: reduce noise

Category: Acoustic Tutorial, Professional

Why carry out an acoustic treatment and reduce the noise of your restaurant?

Acoustic treatment is, now, essential for a restaurant. Indeed, mismanagement of noise is one of the main complaints of customers. It is also one of the main reasons for not returning in a restaurant.

Beyond this commercial aspect, poor noise management is affecting the health of the restaurant’s guests and staff.

For its customers

Various studies have shown that the sound environment of a restaurant is essential for its customers. The latter plays, in fact, to:

  • Choosing a restaurant
  • His appreciation

Choice of a restaurant

Noise is starting to become an important criterion for choosing a restaurant. Its treatment becomes as important as the taste quality of the dishes served. In particular, an HRF study has shown that:

  • 93% of restaurant customers say acoustic comfort is as important as the meal or the service

To cope with these changes in consumption, some online booking sites are starting to include acoustics in the choice filters of restaurants.

Appreciation of the restaurant

Noise does not only affect the choice of restaurant, it also affects its appreciation by a customer.

Here are some figures on this phenomenon:

  1. 20% of customers say that a noisy restaurant is a bad restaurant
  2. 92% say they are annoyed by noise and have difficulty following their conversations in restaurants
  3. Noise is the first complaint made by restaurant customers
  4. 80% of consumers have already left a restaurant because of noise
  5. 1 in 3 customers no longer return to a restaurant with a bad acoustics

Beyond the poor appreciation of the restaurant, a dissatisfied customer tends to speak more than a satisfied customer around him. Bad publicity is therefore quickly launched and relayed.

Also note that noise affects the taste sensation.

The sound environment is therefore, today, a differentiating criterion compared to its competitors. It promotes brand image and build customer loyalty.

For its employees

For their work

Noise is a real problem for communication between your employees. Indeed, if you don’t taking this factor into account, your employees will have trouble communicating with each other and your customers. This can lead to annoying errors which will have an impact on your results (poor order intake, accidents, etc.).

This type of error can create tension, and affect relationships between collaborators. Effective noise treatment will prevent this kind of easily preventable malfunction.

For their health

Various studies have shown that noise can lead to:

  • Hearing fatigue and stress
  • Work malaise and negative image of employer
  • Diseases including cardiovascular and sleep disorders

Some figures on noise at work:

  • 20% of working people lose more than 30 minutes of work due to noise
  • 70% of employees would experience headaches and sleep disturbances
  • Billions of euros in productivity are lost every year due to noise

It is for this reason in particular that laws on noise at work exist. Employees who are exposed to too high decibels should be protected.

In addition to these problems, noise can cause an increase in employee turnover.

Sources of noise in a restaurant and the noise scale

Sources of noise

Noise sources in a restaurant are numerous. They come from:

  • Conversations of clients and staff
  • Employee footsteps
  • Music
  • Furniture: through the impact of the cutlery and the movement of the chairs
  • Technical equipment (percolator, hood, air conditioning, etc.)

It should be noted that labels indicating the noise emitted by your devices exist in certain countries. Do not hesitate to refer to it to choose your technical equipment.

Likewise, music, despite the noise it generates, is an important element in the atmosphere of a restaurant. Thus, 85% of people say they appreciate music in a restaurant provided that its volume is controlled.

The cocktail effect

We sometimes talk about cocktail effect in restaurants. Concretely, what is it?

Beyond a certain threshold, the noise generated by the discussions, added to that of other sources (mentioned just before), causes a loss of intelligibility. It becomes difficult to understand each other. We have to raise our voices to solve this problem. This is what we call a cocktail effect.

Noise scale and restaurant regulations

To get an idea of ​​the noise as a function of the number of decibels emitted:

  • 45 dB (A) Intensity of human voice without annoying noise
  • 50 dB (A) Quiet residential street
  • 55 dB (A) Normal conversation between 2 people / quiet restaurant
  • 60 dB (A) Street with a few passers-by / noisy restaurant
  • 70 dB (A) TV in normal operation
  • 75 dB (A) Busy street / noisy restaurant
  • 80 dB (A) Interior of very noisy metro / restaurant
  • 100 dB (A) Jackhammer

It is very common for the interior of a restaurant to emit an overall noise of more than 80 decibels. However, this causes hearing loss in the long term.

The higher the number of decibels, the more it will be recommended to shorten the duration of exposure to noise. Above 130 decibels, even very short exposure can cause irreversible damage.

Solutions to improve the acoustics of your restaurant

Furniture and its layout

The furniture and its arrangement will play on the acoustics. Sometimes, it is necessary to review its layout to improve the acoustics of its restaurant.

Similarly, some materials (bay windows, plasterboard, etc.) and some configurations (high ceilings, few of furniture, etc.) are likely to favor the reverberation of your room.

It is not always necessary to rethink the layout of the restaurant to improve its acoustics.

Indeed, the most effective solutions are acoustic panels. Furniture that is not very efficient in terms of acoustics can be compensated by a greater number of panels to be placed in the room.

Acoustic panels

Acoustic panels are specifically designed to reduce noise in your restaurant.

They are used to improve the reverberation time of your room. The latter, named RT 60, will serve as an indicator to understand the acoustics of your room.

Our team supports you with before / after comparative studies according to the desired objective and your budget. Concretely, we explain the acoustic gain that you will get depending on the solution chosen.

Acoustic treatment and panel to reduce noise in restaurants

Which acoustic panels to choose for your restaurant?

Acoustics being a relatively opaque and technical environment, the choice of an acoustic solution is not always easy. There are wall acoustic panels and hanging acoustic panels.

Be aware, however, that in terms of acoustics, there is no universal rule. As each room is different, it is very difficult to choose a solution without being accompanied by a professional. The cost of the work will therefore vary depending on the room (volumes, components, etc.).

At PYT Audio, we also believe that an acoustic treatment must be aesthetic. Thus, we offer the finest products on the market. We also adapt to your constraints in terms of space and layout.

Wall acoustic panels

Customizable acoustic panel for restaurant

Wall acoustic panels are a good way to improve the acoustics of a restaurant. At PYT Audio, we notably offer a 100% ecological, printed and customizable solution. An exclusivity on the market.

The great interest of this patented panel is to obtain 100% absorbent surface, when the market standards are around 80%. We therefore obtain very high performance with thin panels. This gives them a very interesting decorative aspect.

Likewise, you can choose a panel print to match your decoration. Printing is also responsible. The process is, indeed, labeled OEKO-TEX®.

Hanging acoustic panels

As restaurant rooms are often open and voluminous, treatment of the ceiling will be essential in the vast majority of cases.

Again, do not hesitate to ask your interlocutor about the materials used in the solutions. Rock wool and glass wool can have long-term health effects. Indeed, many rock and glass wools are classified as carcinogenic.

We also recommend to check the product sheets. Indeed, many acoustic panels absorb only on one side. The advantage of our MUTUM Suspended Luxury panel is to absorb on both sides at a very attractive price.

Acoustics, a very quickly profitable investment

As we have seen in the various studies cited in this article, an acoustic treatment is very valuable for a restaurant. It improve feeling of customers and working conditions of employees.

The cost can vary from simple to quadruple, depending on the room. However, an acoustic treatment quickly pays for itself for a restaurateur. The lifespan of a panel can be more than 10 years.

In view of all the advantages that an acoustic panel provides, we can should be said that an acoustic treatment is a very good investment.