Acoustics in catering establishments
Simple measurement of the acoustic quality of catering establishments – State of the art
Phase 1
Type of project: Exploratory Research
Disability concerned: Hearing disability, motor disability, visual disability, polydisabilities
Topics: Digital accessibility, Autonomy, Buildings and installations, Participation in cultural life, sports and leisure activities, Services and communication
Status: Completed
For the development of the ‘ginto’ digital platform, which collects and publishes information on the accessibility of premises, this project is studying the practical integration of simple methods for recording and assessing acoustic quality in restaurants.
Although the objective of an inclusive society has been defined, there are still barriers to the use of restaurants by persons with disabilities. One of these barriers is the lack of information on the differentiated accessibility of buildings. Here, digital platforms offer opportunities to remove barriers and enable self-determined participation in social life. With the ginto platform, the Sitios association is developing a solution that brings together objective information on the accessibility of places. To date, ginto has focused on people with mobility impairments. In the long term, the platform should also support other groups of persons with disabilities.
The acoustic quality of spaces has a decisive influence on the accessibility and quality of life of people, particularly those with hearing impairments, muscular dystrophy, visual impairments and neurodevelopmental disorders. This study examines the extension of ginto to restaurant acoustics. Objective and subjective methods are evaluated to determine whether they are suitable for use with the application. The results show that capturing acoustic quality in restaurants is possible, but complex and does not always meet the principles of a simple application.
Furthermore, the assessment of whether a room is ‘noisy’ or ‘pleasant’ remains subjective and varies widely, not only between and within different groups of persons with disabilities, but also between different categories of restaurants.
This work shows that there are criteria other than acoustics that are relevant to persons with disabilities when they visit restaurants (for example, the availability of a digital menu). These are easier to collect and interpret and are a useful addition to ginto. Finally, this research highlights the importance of app accessibility and prior user testing.
This project has given Sitios access not only to relevant research institutes, but also to new target groups (people with hearing and/or visual impairments, people with developmental disabilities). This network is essential for the credible and relevant development of the ginto digital platform. It now provides a basis for long-term collaboration in the further development and user testing of ginto.
The project team also benefited from this project in terms of content: the differentiated thinking within an extended team not only enabled Sitios to gain knowledge about the needs of new target groups. It also enabled us to study the complexity of the subject of room acoustics in a practical context (restaurant visit / applicability for ginto).
Participatory, interdisciplinary research projects of this kind are of the utmost importance, especially for small organisations.
Sitios will pursue the central idea of extending the ginto platform to other forms of disability, but will again focus on the results obtained.
On the basis of these results, it is planned to validate other relevant accessibility criteria, in addition to room acoustics, when visiting a restaurant (including technical integration into the application). In addition, the accessibility of existing user test procedures is to be extended to new target groups (hearing and visual disabilities). Both stages of the project must be carried out with the direct involvement of the people concerned and specialists.
