Skip to main content

A hybrid simulation approach to predicting noise in restaurants

Buy Article:

$15.00 + tax (Refund Policy)

High levels of noise are a well-known source of occupant discomfort in dining environments, and noise ranks highly among the most common customer complaints in restaurant reviews. Prior work has focused on measuring existing restaurant soundscapes and attempting to predict acoustic performance; however, current techniques are still limited in accuracy for restaurants with time-varying occupancy and complex layouts. This presentation demonstrates a novel approach to predicting ambient noise in restaurants via a hybrid simulation framework. Acoustical computations for a given restaurant space are performed in a room acoustics model, while a discrete event simulation (DES) model is used to simulate the arrival patterns of patrons and their conversational behaviors. Predictions from the room acoustics model inform the DES model, allowing for noise level predictions at each seat position. Results from the prediction model are validated against measurements in a case study restaurant. Further development of this framework may support the practical assessment of design interventions in any restaurant while also accounting for time-varying patterns of occupancy.

The requested document is freely available to subscribers. Users without a subscription can purchase this article.

Sign in

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Publication date: 14 July 2024

More about this publication?
  • The Noise-Con conference proceedings are sponsored by INCE/USA and the Inter-Noise proceedings by I-INCE. NOVEM (Noise and Vibration Emerging Methods) conference proceedings are included. All NoiseCon Proceedings one year or older are free to download. InterNoise proceedings from outside the USA older than 10 years are free to download. Others are free to INCE/USA members and member societies of I-INCE.

  • Membership Information
  • INCE Subject Classification
  • Ingenta Connect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites
  • Access Key
  • Free content
  • Partial Free content
  • New content
  • Open access content
  • Partial Open access content
  • Subscribed content
  • Partial Subscribed content
  • Free trial content