Ask an Expert: Why Is It So Hard for Me to Hear in Restaurants and Cafes?
- Activate the “Restaurant” or “Party” program to optimize hearing aid performance and suppress background noise for clearer conversations in restaurants.
- Modern hearing aids utilize AI and directional microphones to isolate speech from the specific environmental clatter found in busy restaurants.
- Strategic restaurant seating and assistive devices support hearing aid technology by reducing background interference and echo for a more enjoyable dining experience.
Q: Why Is It So Hard to Hear in Restaurants or Noisy Environments?
A: Dining out is a favorite pastime for many of us, but restaurants and cafes can often be busy listening environments for those of us with hearing challenges.
Modern hearing aids are designed to make conversations clearer, even in noisy environments. While background noise1,2 can still pose some challenges, advanced features and smart technology help you stay connected and engaged in most situations.
In these settings, many sounds occur simultaneously: conversations from nearby tables, clattering dishes, background music, coffee machines, and general chatter.
The biggest challenge is that the sounds you want to hear (like someone’s voice) get lost among all the other noise.
For your brain to easily understand speech, the person talking needs to be noticeably louder than the surrounding sounds3,4. In busy environments, these sounds are often at similar levels, making it difficult for your brain to focus on a single voice.
Three Things That Make Hearing in Noisy Places Tricky
1. The masking effect
2. Reverberation
3. Brain strain
Q: How Do Hearing Aids Help?
A: Most modern hearing aids have a speech-in-noise program, often also called “Party” or “Restaurant” mode. This mode helps ease any hearing challenges you may have by reducing background noise6.
This is how hearing aids typically work:
Speech enhancement
This function boosts specific sounds essential for speech clarity while also reducing background chatter6.
Noise reduction algorithms
Artificial Intelligence (AI) hearing aids can identify steady sounds (like air conditioners) and suppress them in real-time7,9.
Directional microphones
They direct your hearing aids to reduce sounds from the side or behind you and focus on the person directly in front of you8.
A hearing care professional can fine-tune your hearing aid settings to help you get the best performance for your hearing. Higher-tech, premium hearing aids use advanced software programs that acts as the “brains” inside your devices, analyzing sounds, identifying speech, and reducing background noise.
This helps you focus on the person talking and makes conversations easier to follow in busy places like restaurants and cafes.
Q: What Are Some Tips to Hear Better in Restaurants and Cafes?
- Choose quieter restaurants and cafes, and avoid peak hours
- Request a booth or corner table
- Use apps to find quieter restaurants or cafes
- Use your hearing aid’s speech-in-noise program
- Sit in a booth or corner with your back to the wall. This limits the noise coming from behind you and helps your directional microphones work effectively
- Sit close to your conversation partner and face them directly11
- Good lighting allows you to see facial expressions and lip movements
- Ask companions to speak clearly
- Sit away from the kitchen, bar, or speakers
- Look for soft furnishings like carpets, curtains, or tablecloths to reduce echoes5
- Consider assistive listening devices (such as remote microphones) that stream the speaker’s voice directly to your hearing aids
Sources:
1 Ear and Hearing: Hearing impairment and cognitive energy: The framework for understanding effortful listening (FUEL). (2016): pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27355771/
2 Frontiers in Neuroscience: Hearing and sociality: the implications of hearing loss on social life (2023): frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2023.1245434/full
3 Acustica: The cocktail party phenomenon: A review of research on speech intelligibility in multiple-talker conditions. (2000): researchgate.net/profile/Adelbert-Bronkhorst/publication/230739432_The_Cocktail_Party_Phenomenon_A_Review_of_Research_on_Speech_Intelligibility_in_Multiple-Talker_Conditions/links/0912f503c7ffbcce07000000/The-Cocktail-Party-Phenomenon-A-Review-of-Research-on-Speech-Intelligibility-in-Multiple-Talker-Conditions.pdf
4 The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America: Effects of hearing aid processing on speech intelligibility in virtual restaurant settings. (2020): pubs.aip.org/asa/jasa/article/148/4_Supplement/2787/699341/Effects-of-hearing-aid-processing-on-speech
5 The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America: The interaction between reverberation and digital noise reduction in hearing aids. (2017): pubs.aip.org/asa/jasa/article/141/5_Supplement/3971/715672/The-interaction-between-reverberation-and-digital
6 American Hearing + Audiology: Hearing aids and speech in noise: How technology can help you hear conversations clearly. (2024): americanhearing.us/hearing-aids-and-speech-in-noise/
7 Frontiers for Young Minds: Helping people hear better with “smart” hearing devices. (2022): kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2022.703643/full
8 Trends in Hearing: Directional hearing aids. (2001): journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/108471380100500401
9 Ear and Hearing: The effect of hearing aid noise reduction on listening effort in hearing-impaired adults. (2014): pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24622352/
10 ASHA: Tips for improving conversation in noisy environments. (2022): asha.org/siteassets/ais/ais-tips-for-improving-conversation-in-noisy-environments.pdf[Text Wrapping Break]
11 Frontiers in Psychology: The impact of visual information in speech perception for individuals with hearing loss: a mini review. (2024): frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1399084/full
