Have you ever wondered why music is played so loud almost everywhere lately? And I am not only talking about bars and nightclubs where it is obviously extremely loud, but also some restaurants and even some fashionable stores such as Abercrombie and Hollister. Well, there is some serious evidence that loud music is a weapon, a weapon to make you eat or drink faster, and a weapon to attract a certain part of the clientele.
According to a recent article in the NY Times, research has shown that people drink more when music is loud, and even chew faster when tempos are sped up! A 1985 study even reported that people ate faster when music was sped up from 3.83 to 4.4 bites per minutes, and another 2008 study found that people drank an average of 2.6 drinks in 14.5 minutes when the bar’s music was 72 decibels, but an average of 3.4 drinks in 11.5 minutes when the music was 88 decibels! Quite a significant increase.
So what else do owners need to know to make people buy more beer in a bar or move faster out of a restaurant to free a table? In nightclubs, even the music between sets is terribly loud for a good reason, as it is the time when most people go get a drink!
But what the point to play loud music in clothing stores? By reproducing the nightclub ambiance, they definitively attract their target crowd, young people who are going to stay longer inside because of the loud music and so buy more of their stuff, while older people feel annoyed by the high decibels and leave faster.
I just pity people who work at these places, I can leave a club or a restaurant whenever I want, and I never shop at Abercrombie, but the article also reveals that 30% of employees exposed to noise levels of 90 decibels or more over their working lifetimes can expect hearing loss!
Next time you are in a place where there is loud music, think about it, it is a weapon and you are been manipulated. And think about your precious eardrums, it is already enough to endure very loud music at concerts, if this tendency continues, the next generation may become the tinnitus generation.