It was supposed to be a joyful family gathering. Last spring, Kim Powers-Brown took an overnight train from her home in eastern Washington state to join her relatives at a restaurant near Seattle.

If the background noise in a restaurant approaches this level, the room noise is like being at a party where everyone talks louder and louder as the size of the crowd increases. In the acoustics ...

URBANA — Dining out at a restaurant isn't just about the food. It's also about the ambience, and restaurants that are too noisy may be losing business, University of Illinois research suggests.