As the weather turns cold, restaurant dining moves inside. And noise levels rise. Heat lamps for outdoor dining became more common in the pandemic, but the spaces are still pretty enclosed. It’s like eating inside, only outside bundled up in your winter coat!
No matter where you eat, noise levels are high with reverberant spaces, hard surfaces, and people shouting to be heard over the din. One important Hearing Hack for dining out with hearing loss is choosing a quiet location. That’s what SoundPrint’s “Find Your Quiet Place” challenge is all about.
Will you join in?
What is SoundPrint?
SoundPrint has been described as Yelp, but for noise. The app works through crowdsourcing. When you visit a venue, take a sound reading and upload it to the app where it combines with other readings to give each venue a quiet score. Then, when you need to find a quiet place, you benefit from the SoundChecks of others too.
Like many good ideas, SoundPrint grew from a personal need. The founder, Greg, who has hearing loss, was looking for quiet venues for dates. It was tough, because even when restaurants were listed as quiet, they often were not. He began measuring the sound levels of venues, keeping his own list of quiet locations and sharing them with friends.
So many people wanted his list, he created an app to share it with others. And it grew from there. Today SoundPrint has crowdsourced “Quiet Lists” for more than 14 cities worldwide. It’s not just for restaurants. The lists also include coffee shops and other quiet spaces around town.
LWHL Proud to Partner with SoundPrint
Living with Hearing Loss is excited to partner again this year with SoundPrint on its Find Your Quiet Place Challenge! During the month of October, more than 30 hearing health organizations will participate in the 2022 FYQP Challenge to collect sound level data using the SoundPrint App.
The sound measurements from the Challenge will enable SoundPrint to advocate for safe noise levels, help communities find quieter places, and protect the public’s hearing health.
It’s fun, easy, and prizes will be awarded! You are welcome to join us!
How does it work?
Beginning Friday, October 1 and continuing throughout October, use the SoundPrint app to measure sound levels at local venues (restaurants, parks, shops, offices, theaters, cafes). The goal is to measure and submit as many sound levels as possible. Prizes will be awarded to the most dedicated participants!
Using the SoundPrint app is simple. Once downloaded, your smartphone turns into a decibel meter allowing you to take sound measurements everywhere you go and submit them to the app’s database.
For more information visit the FYQP webpage to download the app, register for the Challenge, get the details on prizes and more. Email questions to challenge@soundprint.co.
Readers, will you join SoundPrint’s “Find Your Quiet Place” challenge?
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Why must restaurants play such loud music that one cannot hear the people that are with you? I get it that sports bars must play the Tv games, I guess people go to them to watch a game on tV, (don’t they have TV at home? Why pay for a mediocre meal in order to watch their Tv?) another thing that makes restaurants noisy is the lack of soft surfaces to absorb sound.
It is frustrating. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the subject.
I suspect the only quiet places will be formal (expensive) dining…carpeting, table cloths, cusheons on chairs, drapes. This is not where most people eat most of the time. That’s why I hardly eat out. I go for coffee but that can be a real struggle.
Possibly, but there is always a chance to find a hidden gem. 🤞Thanks for your comment.
In spaces with loud TV sound, ask that they turn off the sound and turn on captions. It’s a NY State law that they turn on the captions, but only if asked. Alas, they aren’t required to turn off the sound. We need to get the law amended so that captions are mandatory. We shouldn’t have to ask and hospitality workers may be unfamiliar with the TV controls and not likely to have heard of the law.
Good point. Thanks for sharing the information.
Sound metering apps for iPhones tend to be fairly accurate, since they are all made by a Apple, or at least to Apple’s specifications. Similar apps for Android phones don’t perform as well, simply because the phones are made anywhere and everywhere. Given that noise is such a widespread problem — not only for those who already have hearing deficits — and the fact that smartphones can POTENTIALLY monitor and report this, it would be wonderful if there was public provision to test and adjust their accuracy at no cost to the user. Unfortunately, these services are lacking.
Interesting idea. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.