Taking Action on Distraction

In any successful hospitality space, so much comes down to the issue of ‘distraction’ – how to be aware of it, and how to limit it. Increasingly, operators are understanding that good acoustics and good sound play a vital role in their strategy to minimise it . . .

Any guest in a hospitality space is looking for a positive experience, and it’s the job of the operator to deliver it. A diner in a restaurant or a hotel guest waiting in a check-in line, both want and expect their experience to be a good one. Whether there for business, leisure or other, people in these places always have other things on their mind: they’re looking to relax, or socialise, or achieve something before moving on with their day. What they don’t want is hold-ups, interruptions or distractions.

If an operator’s goal is to provide a positive experience for the guest, then any distraction is an obstacle to that. Minimal distraction is key to an effective space.

What is a distraction?

Broadly speaking, a distraction is anything that diverts our attention, that stops our brains – even partially or temporarily – from concentrating on something. Distractions can be caused by various environmental factors including shortcomings in lighting, food, cleanliness or service. But I believe that sound is a powerful – and often underestimated – ally.

That’s partly because it’s all too easy for unwanted auditory inputs (think ‘noise’!) to cause distractions: background chatter, clatter, traffic, shouting – the list is familiar, and endless. And it’s not just the noise of life going on around you: distractions can also arise from the sound system hardware itself – from loudspeakers poorly placed, or from the tonal quality of their output being wrong for the purpose.

While well-placed loudspeakers can produce a welcome sound (think ‘music’!) which helps to ‘mask’ or drown out noise, they can also interfere with the very frequencies that we rely on to communicate. If you’re using loudspeakers to mask noise, it needs to be done very carefully.

Design Points

I’ve helped to design sound systems for many such spaces. In one restaurant, the waiters and waitresses told me that what they struggled with the most was one table saying ‘it’s too loud’ and another saying ‘it’s too quiet’ – and they couldn’t strike the balance.

On investigation, I found that in some seats the sound was annoying, and in some it wasn’t. In the annoying seats I could hear sound coming from just one loudspeaker, but in the others, I could hear sound from multiple directions. Where a guest hears just one loudspeaker, it draws their attention – and suddenly they’re thinking about the loudspeaker. It becomes a distraction.

But take the exact same sound level, coming at the same seat from two different angles, and you won’t notice the ‘individual’ loudspeaker: there’s no distraction. So, with our design, we wanted to make sure that, in any seat, you would always hear at least two loudspeakers from different angles, whilst also making sure we had a very uniform level around the space: then we could make small adjustments to these areas if needed. Later, a waiter said to me ‘This is great. You’ve made our lives so much easier’. I suspect it made the customers happier too.

Setting the Vibe

This issue of auditory distraction is a major concern in the hospitality sector. There are so many subtleties involved. Is it the tonal quality of a speaker? Or the visual appearance (is there a big black box in your eyeline?). Is it that you’re hearing it from a single location? How does that change from seat to seat? How do we design correctly?

When I’m talking to a hospitality operator about a sound system, I sit opposite them and ask, ‘Should we be able to converse while sitting back? Do you want people to lean forward to talk? Or do you want them to have to lean in and shout into each other’s ears?’ This begins a conversation about the kind of vibe they want to create – anything outside of that vibe becomes a distraction. In a more high-energy atmosphere you might want customers to have to lean forward and shout – and if your customers are expecting that, it’s not a distraction. But if that’s not your intention, or their expectation, it’s a distraction.

Distraction can have such a powerful negative impact. You’ll go to restaurants where the acoustic is wrong: it might be a shouty, uncomfortable environment, with a tinny, horrible-sounding PA and big, reflective surfaces. Another place might be relaxing and enjoyable, with soft furnishings, carefully placed loudspeakers and comfortable sound levels. In which are you more likely to stay for dessert or another drink?

The Discomfort Factor

Because distractions affect our ability to focus, they cause us (whether we realise it or not) a degree of discomfort and stress. We are born hyper-sensitive to interruption, and for good reason. We often remember bad or negative experiences in greater detail than those that are neutral or pleasant. This makes sense in evolutionary terms: remembering what has caused us problems (which places, foods – even creatures! – to avoid) is an aid to survival. For us today, it means we’ll have more to say about a restaurant where we had a bad experience than one where we felt happy and comfortable. Where intrusive or otherwise distracting sound makes us feel discomfort, we’ll remember the problem in the context of the place. We won’t want to return.

We’re all familiar with ‘the cocktail party effect’: that’s our apparently automatic ability to pick out sounds from the background hubbub. It shows us that, subconsciously, our brains are constantly scanning the surrounding soundfield, looking for alerts. That may be useful if a lion roars in the distance, or if someone is bad-mouthing you at a party, but it’s less welcome if you’re trying to focus your attention on what the person opposite you is saying, or to check in to a hotel, or scrutinize a menu.

Immersive Possibilities

Another interesting factor in all of this is the advent of immersive sound technology. This uses what we call ‘object-based’ mixing – treating each sound as an object in space, which can be precisely ‘located’ to our hearing. In this way, for example, a spoken word can seem to emanate directly from the lips of a presenter or performer, or the sound of a musical instrument comes from where we see it being played – without the listener being aware of the loudspeakers. This can make a powerful difference.

If your senses don’t work together, you’re in a state of distraction again. If you see something in one location but hear it from another, your brain tries to make sense of it: ‘why am I hearing it from over there, but seeing it there?’ That uses brain power – energy – so lethargy sets in sooner. When that happens, you’re more likely to be distracted, frustrated and annoyed – and if somebody’s trying to give you a message or instruction, you’re going to lose interest. Distraction takes a heavy toll.

Take a conference scenario, for example: if you can hear the sound come from where a person is speaking, you focus easily on that person, you listen better and you take in what they are saying. You’re not asking questions of your surroundings (either consciously or unconsciously). If you’re sitting in a conference and you’ve noticed there are loudspeakers left and right, it means that somehow, you’ve asked the question, ‘where is the sound coming from?’ You’ve been distracted.

With immersive technology, you can make the sound come from where people expect it. It ties together the senses, reducing the chance of distraction. The experience feels natural, and seamless. Your brain uses less energy, which means you engage better and for longer with what’s being said.

Back to Distraction

Done properly, object-based mixing allows you to create a sensation of sound that isn’t linked to the speaker: you don’t look around you for the sound source. The sound comes from a layer that’s beyond hardware, so the loudspeaker is no longer a distraction. You’re not looking at a box somewhere and thinking about what’s coming out of it. You’re just engaged in the sound that’s happening around you.

But with the golden opportunities presented by object-based audio and sound imaging, we have to be careful, because suddenly we have less room for error. When everything else is correct and natural-sounding, error becomes more noticeable – it becomes a distraction.

With this spatial sound power at our fingertips, there’s often a temptation to over-do it, spoiling the effect. If the sound we hear seems to come from unexpected directions – at odds with our physical field of view – it can be jarring, or overwhelming, and we’re straight back to a state of distraction.

Of course, there are many advantages to having a good, well-designed sound system – flexibility, control and aesthetics are all major considerations, but all relate in some way to reducing distraction. Whether you’re aiming for a busy, lively vibe or an atmosphere of calm relaxation, whether you choose a traditional system or the exciting power of immersive technology, prioritising sound is an investment that will pay dividends. After all, we can close our eyes, but never our ears.

About d&b audiotechnik

d&b audiotechnik provides professional audio technology and solutions to accurately transfer passions through high-end quality speech and music reproduction. d&b audiotechnik is internationally regarded as a leading company for sound reinforcement systems in installed and mobile applications, with a reputation for quality of construction, standard of service, system integration principles, and pioneering technological development.

Founded in Germany in 1981, d&b audiotechnik headquarters are located in Backnang, near Stuttgart, where research, development and production take place. With sales offices in major cities around the world, the d&b audiotechnik team numbers more than 600 co-workers.

www.dbaudio.com/global/en/hospitality/

d&b audiotechnik is part of d&b group which provides professional audio technology and AVLM solutions to create memorable, multisensorial experiences.

Michael Kinzel
Global Segment Development Manager Hospitality
+4915157150853
d&b audiotechnik GmbH and Co. KG