The Ambient Menu is a web app that connects people who struggle to hear in background noise to an acoustically friendly restaurant. We act as a conduit to guide you to a restaurant where you can comfortably have a conversation.
We believe that good conversation + good people + good food + good service = a memorable experience.
This promotes socially active living, improving people’s lives.
Our mission is to take the ‘din’ out of dinner.
The Ambient Menu is designed for your smartphone.
Use the icons to select the level of ambience you prefer:
Scroll through the available venues at that level, and tap on the restaurant icon to see more about the ambience level, food, and service.
Quiet = like talking in a house
Low = slightly increased listening effort, but can follow conversation
Moderate = must raise voice slightly with increased concentration to hear most of the conversation
Lively = increased concentration and raised voices; still miss most of the conversation
A lively restaurant has a great, fun vibe, but if you struggle to hear speech in background noise, it may not be the venue for you.
We have done a lot of work so far, but we need your help.
After you have finished your meal, you can rate the restaurant based on noise level, food, and service.
We believe that SA has the best restaurants in the country. 96% are small businesses. We don’t want to punish the livelier venues, but we aim to guide our tribe of subscribers to venues where they can have an animated conversation without straining to hear.
If you loved the venue, tell us why! If you felt the restaurant was too lively, mention in the comments where you sat and what the noises were that affected your conversation. This way we’re able to assist the venues in improving their acoustics while we support local.
When looking for a restaurant and you see this symbol: – it means they have attained Ambient Menu Accreditation.
Venues that are rated well by consumers have the option to be nominated for assessment. We conduct acoustic tests on the venue at various times to ensure they have an ambient area for diners who struggle to hear in background noise.
When you see this symbol, tap onto the restaurant and see what area is accredited. Although the main dining room may be lively, the upstairs dining room may be perfect to enjoy a great meal with engaging conversation.
We act as a conduit to connect the ideal restaurant to the ideal consumer, encouraging a symbiotic relationship between the two. This encourages socially active living for people with hearing loss, improving their lives while supporting local restaurants and the community.
We will do this by:
– Providing a smartphone app to connect users to their favourite restaurant; ‘their place.’
– Educating the community about communication strategies via our website, blog posts, and vlogs.
– Supporting the restaurant industry by providing information on how to make their venue more ambient and bringing our community of app users into their restaurant.
Together, this creates a symbiotic relationship between the community and the restaurant. We support each other, which in turn builds the restaurants’ fans, creating advocates who build their business.
The Ambient Menu supports the restaurant industry by bringing our community of subscribers into acoustically friendly venues. We do not bad mouth the lively venues; we simply attest that a lively venue may not be appropriate for your dining experience if you have difficulty hearing speech in background noise.
We believe SA has the best restaurants in Australia. 96% of restaurants are small businesses, so any app comments should be supportive of the venue. If the food isn’t to your standard, you need to say why in the comments, or if the restaurant is too lively, explain how in the comments. We are providing the industry with feedback on how they can improve. Were you seated next to a noisy table or speaker? Were you seated near the open kitchen where a lot of noise was coming from? Or did the venue have wooden floorboards and concrete walls?
Restaurants that want to improve their acoustics can look to our website to see some tips on how to reduce noise levels, or book an appointment with our acoustic consultant for an in-house consultation.