As a person with hearing loss, I try to choose restaurants that are not too noisy; this usually means no music. These places are hard to find. I have also learned that many people with normal hearing also prefer restaurants where you can have a quiet conversation with family or friends and not be blasted by loud noise. People do not go to restaurants for the music.
A fellow deaf person has written about this subject. Her name is Katherine Bouton, and her book is “Shouting Won’t Help: Why I – and 50 Million Other Americans – Can’t Hear You.” She was once an editor at The New York Times. In her book, she writes about restaurants and their incentive for playing music: It makes people eat faster and drink more liquor –hardly gracious motives. “Noise is the second most common complaint about restaurants, according to Zagat, following poor service,” she writes.
What should we do about these problems? Speak up. If you have found it hard to carry on a conversation in a restaurant, ask the waiter or manager to turn down the sound. Or tell them when you leave that you are not coming back because of the noise.
Customers can make a difference.
Isabel Denham
Falmouth
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