Noise Consultancy for Burger King Drive-Thru Restaurants

18 April 2016 by Mike McCabe, Senior Consultant

Building on our experience of conducting Planning Noise Impact Assessments in the hospitality industry, Spectrum has recently provided consultancy services for several proposed new Burger King restaurants and drive-thru restaurants. There are often a range of noise issues to consider for fast-food and drive-thru restaurants. Some of the issues, like delivery noise, can be complex to assess. Spectrum’s noise consultants understand the importance of maintaining a dialogue with the Local Authority to ensure that our assessments are sufficiently comprehensive while being focussed only on those necessary to the development.

Our restaurant Noise Impact Assessments are tailored specifically to the needs of each specific site and client and can include the following noise issues:

• Noise from fixed mechanical plant
• Noise from vehicle activity in the drive-thru and car park
• Noise from deliveries
• Noise from ordering points

Typically, the first step within the analysis is for the restaurant noise consultant to establish the existing noise context (including background and ambient noise) using our extensive range of Class 1 sound level meters by Bruel & Kjaer. In particular our 2250 and 2270 noise loggers use the most up to date software which allows us to measure a wide array of parameters in octave and third-octave bands in conjunction with up to 10ms logging and audio recording; all of which enables us to build up a detailed picture of the noise environment.

We also use Bruel & Kjaer’s Predictor v.11 noise modelling and prediction software to establish how proposed noise sources will affect the existing environment. Predictor v.11 uses state-of-the-art prediction methods and is fully compliant with the latest standards, including ISO 17534, ensuring repeatability and accuracy in all our modelling.

Key to the accuracy of these noise models, and a point Spectrum emphasise, is using the best available sound power data. We typically combine measured examples of key sources, such as deliveries to Burger King drive-thru restaurants, with our own extensive library of direct measurement and manufacturer’s product data to ensure the most accurate results.

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