I don't know about other people -
but the older I get the more fed up I am with noise.
After a bit of searching I couldn't find a restaurant last night
to have a quiet meal with an old friend of mine.
We chose one but although the food was good the noise got to us.
Every restaurant seems to be the same -
they play some songs too loud on a PA system & everyone is shouting at each other.
We had to shout at each other to be heard & yet she was only
1 meter away from me.
She was shouting at me so that I could hear her at
the same time as she was trying to eat -
what happened? -
she nearly choked on her food & had a coughing fit in the restaurant.
I thought she was going to choke to death.
I don't remember this problem when I dined in Europe -
it seems to be an Australian and American problem.
https://www.vox.com/2018/4/18/17168504/restaurants-noise-levels-loud-decibelsWhy restaurants became so loud — and how to fight back
“I can’t hear you.”
By Julia Belluz@juliaoftorontojulia.belluz@voxmedia.com Updated Apr 25, 2018, 10:11am EDT
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When the Line Hotel opened in Washington, DC, last December, the cocktail bars, gourmet coffee shops, and restaurants that fill its cavernous lobby drew a lot of buzz. Housed in a century-old church, the space was also reputedly beautiful.
My first visit in February confirmed that the Line was indeed as sleek as my friends and restaurant critics had suggested. There was just one problem: I wanted to leave almost as soon as I walked in. My ears were invaded by a deafening din. I felt like a trapped mouse, tortured with loud sounds for the purposes of an experiment. The noise was so irritating, I asked my husband whether we should go before our drinks arrived.
We ended up lingering for about half an hour at the Brothers and Sisters restaurant, straining to hear each other. On the way out, I tried to mention the tough acoustics to someone at the restaurant’s front desk. I don’t think he heard me.