So what is SoundPrint?
It’s an app that you can download from the App Store (iPhone) or Google Play. It’s free, and it’s a great way to share your decibel-level experience with other people.
How can it help me?
It’s the perfect companion to Yelp. If you like to check online reviews before you choose a restaurant, you can also check SoundPrint to see if anyone submitted a noise-level reading for it.
SoundPrint started around 2018, so getting more contributors will mean more useful data. It features a map that shows your location and any venues near you that were already rated with SoundPrint. Search the map, tap on a drop pin, and you can see the name of the restaurant, the type of food, and the address and phone number. You can also search by restaurant name or scroll through a list of all restaurants and then sort them by decibel level or other criteria. You can add your own soundcheck or leave a comment.
If you find yourself avoiding a venue because it’s too loud, this app could help. By tracking the actual decibel reading, you might be able to persuade the owners to make adjustments. They could put up some strategically placed sound-absorbing panels, or at least turn down the music volume so you can hear the other people at your table.
How do I use it?
When you’re in a public space, just turn on the app and tap the Soundcheck button. You’ll get a message that says you should run the meter for at least 15 seconds. When the reading seems pretty stable, click to submit it. A list of venue names will pop up. Just choose the name of the location, and it gets added to the map.
Out of fairness to any restaurant, there might be times when it’s noisier than usual. Or one seating area is worse than another. But if it’s consistently too loud, you can validate this with an app like SoundPrint. And if the restaurant has great acoustics — for example, if you can hear everyone at your table and you’d like to recommend it to your friends — SoundPrint makes it easy to share the good news.
If you don’t want to put the decibel reading on a map, you can just use the app to confirm the noise level in the room without sharing it.
I’ve been using decibel apps for awhile, and I really appreciate the additional social aspect of SoundPrint.
A couple of images from the SoundPrint interface.
Learn more:
Soundproofist interview with Greg Scott, founder of SoundPrint
SciStarter project page for SoundPrint
Vox – “Restaurants are too freaking loud. This app helps you shame them.” (2018)