
A common complaint about restaurants is not about food, service or the waiting time, it’s about too much noise.
Different areas within a restaurant have different ceiling and acoustic requirements. Walls & Roofs investigates, with comments from industry experts.
Dinner and conversation

Olives & Plates restaurant at Waterfall Ellipse with acoustic treatment. Image credit: Ivan Lin
Callie van der Merwe, co-founder of COOOP Design Partnership, speaks about the key elements of design for behaviour in hospitality. He explains that historically, the popular perception of design was limited to aesthetics. However, design encompasses much more than surface decoration.
According to Van der Merwe, colour and smell are closely associated with restaurant design. He notes “that someone’s best food memories are often about the time they went with so-and-so to wherever. It’s not entirely about the food.
The people we share the meal with, determine our enjoyment of it. Being able to hear each other, is therefore very important in hospitality.”
Designing for hospitality

Olives & Plates Hyde Park where the acoustic treatment is recessed withing the coffered ceiling. Image credit: Ivan Lin
The role of a designer involves a deep understanding of user behaviour, technological constraints and aesthetic principles. Van der Merwe advises that the design is not only visually appealing, but also functional and user-friendly.
He further encourages collaboration across disciplines. Work with sound engineers and acousticians to ensure that the design aligns with the business objectives and technical requirements of the restaurant.
How much is too much?
Everyone likes a restaurant filled with hubbub, which is not the same as a restaurant that is too noisy. Hubbub is “background noise”. To the owner, hubbub means that the business is going strong, and it means to the patron that people like to be here. No one goes into a quiet restaurant, because it feels empty and unappealing.
“The key is to maintain a vibrant noise flow, but still provide acoustic intimacy for customers,” says Art Noxon, a scientist, lecturer, writer and teacher of acoustics at Acoustic Sciences Corporation (ASC).
Ceiling height
Large restaurants with high ceilings and lots of hard reflective surfaces are meant to induce vibrancy. These spaces have a steady din of hubbub that backfills any lull in the conversation. The noise volume is loud enough that table-top conversations are not overheard at adjacent tables, but it can be overwhelming.
Low ceilings act like megaphones beaming sound everywhere, and loudly. A loud restaurant, bistro, pub or bar can border on the sound volume found in a manufacturing environment.
Privacy
The basic concept in developing an acoustic system for restaurants, is a sense of privacy. It’s the feeling that one’s conversation is not being overheard by others nearby. People want to talk quietly and be heard clearly, just above the hubbub.
“However, speaking quietly and being heard is not easy when the room is filled with noise. To have privacy in a restaurant, the intrusion of sound from afar must be blocked,” confirms Noxon.
Similarly, hearing loud sounds from somewhere across the room is annoying. With no visual clue about that sound being made, it becomes an intruding sound.
Food and friends

Horizontal and Verticle sound reflection. Image credit: Acoustic Sciences Corporation (ASC)
Sharing a meal is a fundamental social event. In good restaurant acoustics the table-top conversations are reinforced, allowing for vertical reverberation and attenuate intruding sounds from across the room.
In addition to the direct sound between people at the table, the reflection of sound off the top of the table makes people’s voices louder, without having to raise their voices. A good reflection off the ceiling of the restaurant also contributes to a bright and clear table-top conversation.
Kitchen acoustics
Restaurant and catering kitchens are workplaces with a high level of noise and banging, which can affect employees negatively, causing fatigue, stress and communication problems.
Commercial kitchens are often located next to the dining area, and noise from the kitchen can disturb the diners.
A sound-absorbing ceiling will reduce both the sound level in the kitchen and sound transmission from the area, but any acoustic system installed must also meet the high cleanability requirements of a food preparation area.
Technologies and acoustic solutions

Coffered ceiling decibel chart. Image credit: Acoustic Sciences Corporation (ASC)
Acoustic ceilings:
- Ceiling boards or tiles with high levels of acoustic absorption.
- Available as concealed grid and exposed grid ceiling systems.
- Designed to reduce noise, prevent the spread of fire and assist insulation.
Baffles:
- Acoustic ceiling treatment that suspends down vertically.
- Shows the bare ceiling above while still providing sound absorption.
- Ideal for retrofitting to correct noise issues.
Coffered ceilings:
- A directional acoustic ceiling mounted grid or ceiling mounted acoustic baffle disguised as a classic architectural element, the coffered or box beam ceiling.
- Allows vertical sound to be reflected and horizontal sound to be absorbed.
- Ideal for wide and/or long rooms with low ceilings.
Green building acoustics
An important element of building design is the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) offered by a building. This relates to air quality, lighting levels and noise levels.
“It is accepted that internal noise levels have a significant effect on the occupants of a building, affecting their satisfaction, well-being and hence their health and productivity,” explains Ivan Lin of LinSpace.
The Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA), through the Green Star Tool, aims to recognise buildings that are designed to maintain internal noise levels at an appropriate level by awarding up to two Green Star points to such projects.
There is more to ceilings in restaurants than meets the eye or the ear. Industry experts explain the basics of ceilings and acoustics for hospitality spaces.
Full acknowledgement and thanks go to ASC, COOOP, Ecophon, Gyproc and LinSpace for the information in this editorial.
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