Quiet Spaces

A place where you can hear each other. Quiet Spaces rates restaurants, cafés and bars on whether you can hear the person across the table, using ratings and decibel readings from people who sat there.

FIND OUT BEFORE YOU GO • A map of places, colored by how easy it is to hold a conversation, with a key that explains every color • Every venue page opens with the answer that matters: how many visitors could hear the person they came with • Each place shows when it was last rated, so you know how current the answer is • Filter for Crystal clear rooms, or for places that are good for talking at this time of day • Places nobody has rated yet show an estimate, always labeled as one

THE DETAILS THAT DECIDE IT • Patio, booth, bar and main floor are rated separately, because they don't sound the same • Each venue shows which time of day people found easiest to talk • Decibel readings come from visitors' phones and are averaged the way a sound meter averages them • Save places with the heart and find them again on your profile

CHECK A ROOM YOURSELF • The noise check shows the level as a ring that turns from blue to orange to red as the room gets louder. About ten seconds gives a good average • It also reads how steady a room is. Some rooms are loud but even; others swing between quiet and loud, which is harder for many listeners than volume itself • Nothing is recorded, stored or uploaded. Sound is analyzed on your phone and thrown away; only the number is kept, and only if you add it to a rating • Quick Rate is one screen: two answers, an optional seat, and you're done • Sound Walk plans a short walking route past the calmer places near you

WHO IT'S FOR This app is for people who can hear an entire room except the one voice in front of them: people who are hard of hearing, who use hearing aids or cochlear implants, who process sound differently, and autistic or ADHD listeners. It was built by one person who spent years nodding along to conversations he couldn't follow.

The map is young, and it doesn't pretend otherwise. A venue with no ratings says so. Every rating you add gives the next person a real number instead of a guess.