Conference_programme: 18.3 - Voice accommodations in room acoustics and noise

Lecture: How much Would you Spend to Eat at this Restaurant?

Author(s): Bottalico Pasquale

Summary:
Restaurants are not merely eating and drinking sites; they are also popular settings for important social and business conversations. Previous studies showed that the sound levels measured in restaurants are ranging from 45 dBA to 85 dBA. In a noisy environment, speakers unconsciously attempt to maintain a level that allows them to be understood by listeners. The involuntary tendency to raise the level of the voice with an increase in the level of the background noise is called Lombard effect.\nThe objective of this study is to determine the minimum level of noise in a restaurant that starts the Lombard effect and how it relates to the perceived communication disturbance and vocal discomfort. Moreover, the relationship between noise levels and willingness to spend for a dinner was addressed.\nTwenty normal-hearing young adult subjects (10 males, 10 females) were instructed to read a passage with the goal of being understood by a listener at the opposite side of a table (1.5 m far), in an IAC sound booth. Two loudspeakers, located 1.5 m in front of the subject’s ears, emitted restaurant noise. This background noise varied in level from 30 dBA to 85 dBA in 5 dB increments, in a randomised order. The audio-signal was captured by a head-mounted microphone. Subsequently, a regression model was fit with segmented relationships to the data, estimating the slopes and the break-point(s) in the relationship between the explanatory variable, background noise level (Ln) and the response variables: (1) ΔSPL (within-subject normalised SPL); (2) communication disturbance; (3) vocal discomfort; and (4) willingness to spend for a dinner. Results indicate that there is a change-point in the Lombard effect associated with the level of the background noise. As the noise level increases incrementally from 30 dBA to 85 dBA, initially, talkers begin to be disturbed by the increased noise level. Having perceived the disturbance, talkers begin to strongly increase their speech level due to the Lombard effect. Finally, when the noise exceeds that at the change-point, the talkers experience greater discomfort. The relationship between the willingness to spend for a dinner and the noise levels is discussed.\n

Corresponding author

Name: Prof Pasquale Bottalico Bottalico

e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Country: United States