mix of after-work gossip, clinking silverware and
glasses, the guffaws of a raucous party nearby. The sig-
nal processor dampens and churns those sounds, and
delivers them to speakers positioned in the far corners
of the space. Meanwhile, ones close to you play a muted
mix of room noises. This rerouting tricks your brain into
focusing on your flirty banter. Constellation’s algorithm can also
dim any sudden bursts that come from neighboring tables, or wash
the most offensive clanks and rattles of the kitchen from the mix— all
while leaving the background music alone.
At 80 decibels, the recording of Comal is definitely loud. Still, with
Constellation activated, it’s easy to hear people at the table ordering
jicama and cucumber salad, pork tacos, and tamales. Meanwhile, the
droning ambience remained distant.
“It’s like you’re protected,” John Meyer observes. “It’s like a force
field. And in a sense, it probably is, for the brain.”OF COURSE, IT’S MUCH EASIER TO QUELL RESTAURANT NOISE
when you can start from scratch, rather than trying to tame the deci-
bels of an existing eatery. For one thing, loud has become the new
normal, making it easy for owners to dismiss.
Bob and Maggie Klein, for instance, had successfully run their Italian
spot, Oliveto, in Oakland for more than two decades before discovering
they had a volume problem. In the year leading up to a 2014 renovation,
Bob decided to use a smartphone sound meter to spot-check busy din-
ner services, and found that they regularly hit 86 decibels. The number
was comparable to other places he’d checked, but when Bob walked the
dining room, he noticed people “leaning in and struggling to hear each
other. And it’s common. It’s not just old people. It’s everybody.”
He empathized. A viral infection had badly damaged his hearing
about 20 years ago, forcing him to use an assistive device. Even for
people with healthy ears, though, listening in a crowded, noisy envi-
ronment is tough. “You’re working so hard to hear the conversation
that you’re not in the conversation,” he says.
The Kleins opted to install Constellation, joining a vanguard of
owners moving toward better sonic management. According to
Keely Siebein, a senior consultant with Siebein Acoustic, eateriesare a rapidly growing clientele for firms
like hers, which has nearly five times as
many restaurant projects as it did a decade
ago. Others in the field, the Meyers in-
cluded, confirm the trend. Over the past five
years, the ASA convention has held special
sessions on the acoustics of dining estab-
lishments, leading to a working group on
standards, which includes Siebein.
To date, seven owners have opted to in-
stall Constellation, which has a hefty price
tag: between $60,000 and $80,000.
The Meyers are working to cut the cost by
streamlining the hardware and creating a
cheaper alternative to the powerful signal
processor needed for huge concert halls.
For now, it’s a steep upfront investment for
restaurateurs less motivated than the Kleins,
who wanted to both improve diner comfort
and gain the acoustic flexibility to host a
variety of different events.
Meanwhile, there’s a range of more-
affordable options that can help retrofit existing busi-
nesses. These include foam ceiling panels, perforated
wood that allows noise to pass through to an absorbent
layer, acoustic plaster with tiny fibers that will soak up re-
verb, and even a transparent, sound-dampening film for
glass. The expense varies by material. According to acous-
tical consultant Nathaniel Fletcher, who works with the
New York-based company AKRF, “It can go from a few
thousand dollars to tens of thousands pretty quickly.”
At the fully renovated Oliveto, Bob Klein shows
off the iPad from which he fine-tunes his restaurant’s
sound. The system is set to “automatic occupancy,” so
it adjusts in real time according to changes in the space’s
overall noise levels. He easily moves through settings
such as “symphony hall” (perfect for when Oliveto
hosts classical violinists) and “cathedral” (used for a
recent performance by the choral group Chanticleer).
With each, Klein claps and lets the echoes ring in imag-
inary rafters. Other options favor certain microphones.
For example, “panel discussion” activates only a row of
mics above a rear area that can accommodate a long ta-
ble; guests can easily take in forums on topical issues
like genetically modified foods.
This range of configurations supports Klein’s vision
of reimagining restaurants as community hubs. It hints
at John Meyer’s ambitions too: controlling acoustics
to give one architectural space the ability to feel like
many. Tackling dining noise was his first chance to make
sound behave in ways that brick-and-mortar alone can’t
achieve, and still serve our auditory needs.
“We can create way more structure inside a high-
powered computer than you can in the physical world,”
Meyer says. “It opens up a whole way of creating spaces.”POPSCI.COM•WINTER 2019 77Sound Check
The mic’ed-up
apparatus the
Meyer crew used
to document
restaurant roar.NOISE LEVELCO
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