Improve Room Acoustics

Wild Party or Candlelight-Dinner - what makes for good room acoustics?

What kind of atmosphere is to be created depends on the type of catering. Is it a café, a bar, a pizzeria or a award-winning restaurant? And what do your guests expect from the respective location - a cosy evening, a business dinner or a party with friends?

Two examples illustrate the respective differences:

1. In the trendy tapas bar, guests can expect South American sounds, a small dance floor and lively conversation. Here waiters walk around between the small and narrow groups of tables, creating a sense of community. For this location the sounds have to be swallowed as far as possible across the room, so that the whole background noise is muffled.
2. At a romantic dinner in the chic restaurant, the couple engage in intimate conversations and express their love. In order to provide as much privacy as possible and to create a relaxed atmosphere, room dividers with a soft surface are suitable, for example. But beware: too many acoustic elements, such as in the tapas bar, can lead to a dull sound.

Not only the occasion is relevant, but also the individual needs of the guests. For example, make sure to place people with hearing aids in a quiet corner of the restaurant. This way they can also take part in the table talk and feel well looked after.

Measures to reduce noise

In order for neither you nor your guests having to settle with library whispers, we have put together some easily implementable measures for you:

• Scaling down the room
  As a general rule, the larger a room and the less furnishings there are, the louder it appears. Use plant boxes or partition wallsto divide the room into smaller sections. These provide private seating groups with privacy and at the same time prevent sound from spreading. Partition walls can also be moved at any time so that you remain flexible in your room layout.
• Using walls and ceilings
  To shorten the reverberation time, you also have to work on the walls. Sound reflections are caused by hard walls and high ceilings that reflect sound. Ceiling canopies or ceiling panels are ideal for compensating for echo effects from high rooms. If it is not possible to stretch large ceiling elements, you can use acoustic elements such as foam cubes instead. Bare and smooth walls that convey an industrial look are particularly popular in large venues. However, hard surfaces of stone, concrete, glass, wood or plastic cannot absorb sound waves, so the walls reflect them back. To avoid this ping-pong effect between the walls, you should use soft materials, i.e. instead of mirrors and pictures in glass frames, you can use large-format pictures with an absorber / acoustic foam behind them. You can easily order these online and have them printed with any motif you like, such as colours, logo or photos of your restaurant. In addition to the optical enhancement and sound absorption, you can also equip the fabric pictures with LEDs for lighting and use them to hide unattractive places, such as a power box cover. The rule of thumb is that at least 30% of the room surfaces should be sound-absorbing.

Conclusion

As you can see, you don't necessarily need an interior designer or an acoustician to control noises, but you can also do it yourself at a reasonable cost. If you still want to spend a little more money, a professional can analyse your room structure, measure the reverberation times and offer you a tailor-made solution. He can also provide you with information on applicable fire safety regulations, which are mandatory for commercial premises. Conclusion: Whether it's a chic restaurant or a busy tapas bar, it's important that you create an oasis of well-being for your guests that suits the establishment, so that nothing stands in the way of a pleasant atmosphere for conversation and quality of stay!