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Too loud! I can barely hear you in an open floor plan restaurant
The Washington Post now rates restaurant decibel levels
Open floor plans. Got to have it. HGTV has inculcated it as a requirement. But not considered? IT’S. SO. DANG. NOISY!
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Beginning in 2023, the Washington Post restaurant critic, Tom Siestema, . Most in his 2023 ratings averaged 74 decibels/must speak with raised voice; some clocked in at 82 decibels/extremely loud. For context, 82 decibels is above occupational hazard level noise.
I found an informative ! It affects both people who are hard of hearing, as well as those who are sensitive to noise — a combined total of at least a third of the American population.
Interestingly enough, the paper recommended using smart phone apps to document noise levels — something I hadn’t thought…
