Lombard Effect, intelligibility, ambient noise, and willingness to spend time and money in a restaurant amongst older adults

Dining establishments are often characterized by high levels of background noise, which represents a barrier for an effective communication. This particularly affects people suffering from hearing problems. Moreover, noise levels exceeding normal conversational levels causes a subconscious phenomenon called the Lombard Effect, an involuntary tendency to increase the amount of vocal effort when talking in the presence of noise. The primary aim of the current study was to understand the effect of noise on vocal effort and speech intelligibility in a restaurant setting for adults over 60 years old with and without hearing loss. The secondary aim was to evaluate how their perception of disturbance in the communication, their willingness to spend time and money in a restaurant was affected by the varying levels of background noise. The results of this study showed background noise levels, lower than 50 dB(A), will allow the senior customers to minimize their vocal effort and to allow for more understanding than 50% of the conversation, even for those impacted by moderate to severe hearing loss. This limit will also keep the disturbance of the communication below 50% and the willingness to spend time and money in a restaurant over 50%.