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Gillian sounds out noise levels for diners - Bay of Plenty Times - Sep 19 2006 11:00AM - localnews
Next time it's your shout, make sure you don't have to direct it at the waiters.
That's the advice from Gillian Oakbrook, who is part of a nationwide campaign to rank restaurants and cafes on their noise levels, not just on the quality of the food and service.
As information co-ordinator at Tauranga Hearing Association, Mrs Oakbrook is about to start checking the volume in restaurants and cafes around town but she needs as much help as she can get.
"We want to build a directory on hearing-friendly cafes and restaurants," Mrs Oakbrook told the Bay of Plenty Times.
Hard surfaces such as concrete and glass feature in the trendiest contemporary eateries on floors, walls, ceilings - even furniture.
Combine this with open kitchens and cool music to set the atmosphere, the clatter of dishes, hiss and grind of coffee machines and patrons raising their voices to be heard over the din and diners have an environment that is a challenging and frustrating place to hold a conversation.
"Even people with good hearing can find it difficult once the coffee grinder starts up," she said.
The National Foundation for the Deaf is using Deaf Awareness Week this week to highlight the growing problem of recreational noise - and restaurants and cafes are high on the list.
It's okay for the occasional train to cut conversation dead along The Strand but the constant cacophony in many restaurants and cafes consistently exceeds levels at which normal speech can be understood.
The rating system is consumer based - anyone can submit a rating using forms available from the New Zealand Acoustical Society website New Zealand Acoustical Society - where the data will be collated.
Known as CRAI, the cafe and restaurant acoustic rating index could soon be a useful guide. A one-star rating will suggest it's bedlam - don't go there unless you can lip read.
A five-star rating suggests it is a place to be, and be heard, says Stuart Camp of the Acoustical Society, who created the index.
"This is not intended as a witch hunt; rather it's simply providing people with information they can use to help them make an informed choice."
Also high on the list of hearing loss noise-makers are iPods and boom boxes in cars.
"The iPod issue is quite difficult to deal with. The users tend to be quite young - they automatically think we are trying to spoil their fun."
But constant use of an iPod can damage your hearing, she said, because the music is fired straight into the ear canal.
"You lose the high frequencies first and some individuals also lose some of the lower frequencies. We are seeing people in their late teens and early 20s displaying the same type of industrial hearing loss we used to see from factories 30 years ago."
And boom boxes are another danger, with some able to damage hearing instantly. "Some boom boxes in cars hit 140 decibels. You should never have music so loud that you can't have a normal conversation with your front seat passenger.
"If you are used to it, you probably have some damage already."
* There is no street appeal. To make an automatic $20 donation to the National Foundation for the Deaf phone 0900 66620.
Next time it's your shout, make sure you don't have to direct it at the waiters.
That's the advice from Gillian Oakbrook, who is part of a nationwide campaign to rank restaurants and cafes on their noise levels, not just on the quality of the food and service.
As information co-ordinator at Tauranga Hearing Association, Mrs Oakbrook is about to start checking the volume in restaurants and cafes around town but she needs as much help as she can get.
"We want to build a directory on hearing-friendly cafes and restaurants," Mrs Oakbrook told the Bay of Plenty Times.
Hard surfaces such as concrete and glass feature in the trendiest contemporary eateries on floors, walls, ceilings - even furniture.
Combine this with open kitchens and cool music to set the atmosphere, the clatter of dishes, hiss and grind of coffee machines and patrons raising their voices to be heard over the din and diners have an environment that is a challenging and frustrating place to hold a conversation.
"Even people with good hearing can find it difficult once the coffee grinder starts up," she said.
The National Foundation for the Deaf is using Deaf Awareness Week this week to highlight the growing problem of recreational noise - and restaurants and cafes are high on the list.
It's okay for the occasional train to cut conversation dead along The Strand but the constant cacophony in many restaurants and cafes consistently exceeds levels at which normal speech can be understood.
The rating system is consumer based - anyone can submit a rating using forms available from the New Zealand Acoustical Society website New Zealand Acoustical Society - where the data will be collated.
Known as CRAI, the cafe and restaurant acoustic rating index could soon be a useful guide. A one-star rating will suggest it's bedlam - don't go there unless you can lip read.
A five-star rating suggests it is a place to be, and be heard, says Stuart Camp of the Acoustical Society, who created the index.
"This is not intended as a witch hunt; rather it's simply providing people with information they can use to help them make an informed choice."
Also high on the list of hearing loss noise-makers are iPods and boom boxes in cars.
"The iPod issue is quite difficult to deal with. The users tend to be quite young - they automatically think we are trying to spoil their fun."
But constant use of an iPod can damage your hearing, she said, because the music is fired straight into the ear canal.
"You lose the high frequencies first and some individuals also lose some of the lower frequencies. We are seeing people in their late teens and early 20s displaying the same type of industrial hearing loss we used to see from factories 30 years ago."
And boom boxes are another danger, with some able to damage hearing instantly. "Some boom boxes in cars hit 140 decibels. You should never have music so loud that you can't have a normal conversation with your front seat passenger.
"If you are used to it, you probably have some damage already."
* There is no street appeal. To make an automatic $20 donation to the National Foundation for the Deaf phone 0900 66620.
