Acoustics in global comfort design of restaurants

The paper reports some experiences of acoustic design inspired by global comfort theories and approach. The methodology has been defined and applied by authors in some case studies including high rated restaurants, requiring top comfort quotes as well as popular "trattorias" serving typical food in a friendly, crowded, noisy atmosphere, aiming to reduce the background noise. The sound and noise characterization of eating rooms and dining areas in open spaces, based on room acoustics principles are presented by the authors in terms of values given to acoustics variables that are combined with other variables representing different factors of perceived comfort. Indicators of global comfort for guests are generated by combined variables and used for the definition of solutions characterized by the aim of optimizing both the perceived quality of place enriching the food experience.