Background noise in some eateries can reach the equivalent of a lawnmower or a motorbike. It’s enough to put you off your dinner

Gregory Scott’s friends have asked him to find a quiet restaurant for dinner. Until recently this would have been a challenge, given that Scott lives in New York. “It’s known to be one of the noisiest cities in the world,” he says. Now he feels confident that, although he has never been, a small borscht joint called Ukrainian East Village will fit the bill.

That’s because last year Scott set up an app called Soundprint – the “Yelp for noise”. It allows users to search for restaurants conducive to conversation – and, in turn, asks them to record decibel (dB) levels (the app comes with a meter) in other establishments. It has had more than 60,000 submissions, with more than 500 coming from the UK. Ukrainian East Village has been measured four times by app users and averaged 74dB, a “moderate” level that Scott says is great for conversation. As someone with permanent hearing loss, he has a particular interest in such places.

The dB levels at many restaurants far exceed this pleasant thrum. The average sound level recorded in UK restaurants on Soundprint, taken between 6pm and 9pm, is 79dB. “I’m sure many of those are above 80, and I’m sure some are above 85,” says Scott. “It’s really loud for conversation.” In 2017, the UK charity Action on Hearing Loss (AoHL) found that noise levels in some well-known chains, such as Patisserie Valerie, topped 90dB on busy evenings. That’s the equivalent of munching your croissant next to a lawnmower or motorbike.

The knock-on effects are clear. According to AoHL, 79% of people, both those with and without hearing loss, had experienced difficulty holding a conversation while eating out. Eight out of 10 reported having left a restaurant, cafe or pub early because of the noise. Ninety-one per cent said they would not return to venues where noise levels were too high, and 43% have opted for a takeaway instead of going out and decibel-dodging.

Anecdotally, at least, it hasn’t always been this way. “It certainly seems restaurants have got louder,” says Roger Wicks, director of policy and campaigns at AoHL. “That’s what people are saying to us.”

So why are they so loud? “The restaurant trade is ‘a young person’s game’,” says the Observer’s restaurant critic, Jay Rayner. Although a “mere 52” himself and with no hearing problems, he knows first-hand the impact they can have. “My dear late mother, Claire, loved restaurants, but eventually closed down on them because she couldn’t hear conversation in them – it was massively distressing for her.”

Thanks to the Lombard effect, which means that noise breeds noise, even limited background music can lead to shouted exchanges, as speakers raise their voices in order to be heard. Modern restaurant designers aren’t helping. As Rayner puts it, they love “bare brick, filament light bulbs, vaulted ceilings” rather than soft, sound-deadening surfaces.

Some commentators, including the FT food writer Alexander Gilmour, think ageism plays a part. “There is a theory that young people are cooler than older people, they eat faster, drink the bar and dig the music. And they yell,” he wrote last year. “Why bother creating spaces in which people – beyond the drunken 20-year-old – can thrive?”

As a thirtysomething with tinnitus and some associated hearing loss who, even as a twentysomething, was sometimes unable to hear in “younger” establishments, I find this take a little narrow. Who hasn’t, 18 or 80, hearing problems or not, occasionally nodded along and pretended to hear? But, of course, “most people with hearing loss are older,” as Wicks says. “Eleven million in the UK and increasing every year. By 2035 that will reach about 13 million.” It will, according to the professor of auditory neuroscience Jennifer Bizley, increasingly become a problem, with younger generations “pretty doomed” because they are exposed to so much noise.

So what can be done to bring volume levels down? Some restaurants have called in acoustic experts. Stefano Meloni is the senior manager at Tozi in Victoria, central London, where the high ceilings and bare walls provoked Rayner to write in a review: “If you are one of those with hearing issues related to hard surfaces … Tozi will not make you happy.” It was a problem the restaurant was already aware of, Meloni says, and it has since had sound-dampening panels installed on the ceiling. “It improved a lot,” he says.

This isn’t something every restaurant will be able to afford. “To get a quieter restaurant may well cost you,” Wicks acknowledges. However, there are cheaper fixes. Restaurateurs “could provide quiet areas, certainly away from the kitchen and speakers. And whenever they can, introduce soft furnishings, something that absorbs the sound.”

Yet few restaurants seem to take noise seriously – despite the fact that noisy venues are more likely to have a lasting effect on their staff than on their patrons. “Some restaurants and chains have said the right thing,” says Wicks, “but nobody’s really engaged.”

To make restaurateurs appreciate the value of bringing sound levels down, the perception that noise equals “everybody’s having fun” needs challenging. “Noise doesn’t create the atmosphere,” Meloni insists. “The atmosphere is created by the waiters and the managers.”

Ben Hancock is a director at Oscar Acoustics, which installs acoustic finishes. As he explains, noise reduction doesn’t have to mean killing the vibe – recently, working with Ottolenghi, the brief was to absorb enough sound to make speech easy, but also “keep an atmospheric buzz”. The level of sound absorption depends on the thickness of Hancock’s sprayed-on acoustic finish – what they went for “fine-tuned the acoustic so it was right on the edge”.

And what can diners do? For a start, we can complain when we find ourselves somewhere unacceptably noisy. If you find this embarrassing, take heart. I was emboldened recently while at a burger restaurant to ask for the music to be turned down. Granted it was only changed a smidge, but we were offered a quieter table – and I suspect the request had something to do with the free wine that was later brought over. More and more, people are using social media to feed back, too. TripAdvisor – where the now-quieter Tozi was once described as a “noise bomb” – and Open Table have become powerful weapons in diners’ toolkits.

This is also where data from apps such as Scott’s or the AoHL-recommended Decibel X comes in. “You’re starting to hear a lot more from the users of the app that they feel empowered to let the venue managers know: ‘The food is great but please do something about the noise,’” says Scott. The more data on just how loud these places are, the easier it will be to make restaurants prick up their ears.

All this noise can’t be good for business, particularly given that one recent study found that loud noise compromises taste. Many restaurateurs probably don’t realise how bad things have got. For city-dwellers especially, life in general is extremely loud. I measured 104dB on the London underground the other night – that’s louder than a jackhammer. “Lots of people will say, ‘The restaurant wasn’t that loud,’” says Scott. “But go to a quiet place and acclimate yourself and you’ll realise how loud a lot of them are.”

Finding quieter spots, even if you have tiptop hearing, might just make meals out more enjoyable. As Rayner says: “One of the joys of restaurants is that they’re a brilliant place for disclosure. If you’re going, ‘Sorry, what? You did what? To whom?’ you’re going to miss out on the juicy details. What’s the fun?”