Tips for Dining Out with Hearing Loss

If you’ve experienced difficulty hearing in restaurants, you’re not alone. In the past decade, restaurants have gotten louder. We addressed this topic in a previous blog post here.

A few years ago, New York Magazine reported, “Most restaurant scholars will tell you that the Great Noise Boom began in the late nineties, when Mario Batali had the genius idea of taking the kind of music he and his kitchen-slave compatriots listened to while rolling their pastas and stirring their offal-rich ragus and blasting it over the heads of the startled patrons in the staid dining room at Babbo…Sound systems were cranked up and suddenly noise became the hallmark of a successful New York restaurant.”

This new trend toward a more festive, vibrant ambiance in restaurants, with the rush of energy and visual access to an open kitchen, has made dining experiences much louder than before. In part, this is due to restaurant design.

Remember when Carrie Fisher’s character in When Harry Met Sally quotes her future husband, “Restaurants are to people in the 80s what theatres were to people in the 60s”? Well, the trend toward restaurants hasn’t changed much since!

Open kitchen plans, and even seats at the counter to watch chefs, have become more popular. In part, this is due to the new celebrity of chefs in the past decade.

Older restaurants – which almost seem stuffy now – tend to have table linens, carpet, and cushiony seating. All of these soft fabrics absorb the acoustics of a restaurant – the clinking of glass, the scaping of a knife against china, tec. With newer restaurant design, there is more of an industrial-chic appearance, which are very difficult acoustically.

Jeremy Luscombe, an acoustic consultant, has said that “industrial design with concrete finishes and hard surfaces mean noise is propelled around the room.” He recommends acoustic panels on the walls and ceilings to absorb the noise.

Many hearing aids are designed to tackle the very problem of loudness in restaurants. When you’re trying to hear your dining companion and there’s all sorts of background noise floating about, it can be difficult to focus. Fortunately, many hearing aids are designed to reduce background noise and enhance speech at the same time. This helps you to focus on your dining companions rather than trying to hear above the din.

At the same time, you might still experience challenges in noisy restaurants. Here are a few tips to get the most out of your dining experience with hearing loss.

When you’re making plans with others for dinner, communicate that loud restaurants tend to be difficult for you when it comes to conversation, and have a few suggestions on hand. In addition to taking the menu into consideration, think about the design and acoustics of the space. Many trendy new restaurants occupy spaces that are former warehouses, which means high ceilings and lots of hard surfaces. This is comparable to being in a place like a gymnasium or a racquetball court – you can imagine how distorted sounds can appear in these kinds of cavernous spaces.

Consider a place that is smaller and more intimate. Lighting is also an important element. If the space is well lit, you’re more likely to be able to see your companions, which helps with conversation.

If possible, choose a booth. The acoustics of a booth helps with hearing, as they block out some of the noises of the restaurant. Booths also tend to be made of softer materials, which helps soften the sounds around you.

Seats along the perimeter of the restaurant tend to be more quiet than the center of a space. This is why you may move off to the side if you’re having a conversation at a party – it’s quieter along the edges. If you’ve got the option, make a reservation and request a table along the side. Let the staff know about your hearing needs, and they’ll be happy to accommodate.

In some restaurants, there may be an open kitchen. If this is the case, ask to be seated away from the open kitchen. Kitchens tend to be very loud places, with chefs in action and utensils clanging.

Most hearing aid models are designed to block out background noise – which tends to be noise behind you. If you’re sitting down to dinner, sit with your back to the room or the noise sources. You want to be able to focus on your dining companions across from you, and by turning your back on the noise, you’ll be able to hear them better!

Have questions regarding your hearing aids? Contact us at one of our My Hearing Centers locations today.