Why restaurants sound loud
The design brief usually calls for hard finishes — tile, glass, concrete, wood. Add a low ceiling and cutlery clatter and you get the Lombard effect: guests speak louder to compete with the room, pushing overall noise up 6–10 dB.
Target reverberation for a restaurant is 0.6–0.9 seconds. Untreated hard-finish restaurants routinely hit 1.5–2.0 s.
The four levers
Ceiling clouds, wall panels, floor absorption, and door seals. In order of effectiveness for most restaurants:
- PET ceiling clouds — biggest single win, invisible from most seats
- Wall panels behind seating banquettes — controls direct reflections
- Acoustic carpet or thick rugs — reduce chair-drag and footfall noise
- Door seals to kitchen — cut the loudest bleed source
Design-friendly formats
PET clouds can be cut into brand-shaped patterns. Gripper-fabric walls can be custom-printed with menu art or brand storytelling. Wood-wool baffles pair beautifully with exposed-brick and industrial fit-outs. Acoustics can be part of the design, not hidden from it.