Live captions and productivity tool for restaurants & cafes

Restaurant noise was ranked the top complaint among all diners in a Zagat survey — and that is among people with full hearing (Zagat). The average restaurant noise level is 80 dBA, compared to around 60 dBA for a normal conversation. For deaf and hard of hearing people, this is not a nuisance. It is the difference between following a conversation and not following it. Research on the impacts of hearing loss on social dining found that people with hearing loss disengage from restaurant dining at significantly higher rates — not because they do not want to go, but because the environment makes participation too costly (ScienceDirect, 2024).

The noise compounds itself. When background noise rises above comfortable conversation levels, speakers involuntarily raise their voices — a phenomenon called the Lombard Effect (Scientific Reports, 2022). As the room gets louder, everyone speaks louder, which makes the room louder still. For a hearing person, this is mildly annoying. For a deaf or hard of hearing person, it turns an already difficult environment into one where speech comprehension breaks down entirely.

The social cost is real. Eating out is where friendships are maintained, relationships are built, and important conversations happen. When a deaf or hard of hearing person reduces how often they go out — or attends but follows less and contributes less — the consequences extend beyond the meal. Research consistently links reduced social participation in dining settings to broader patterns of social isolation and the mental health outcomes that follow (PMC, 2023).

Captio AI is built for the table. Place the phone between you and whoever you are talking to, point the microphone toward them, and read the conversation in real time through any level of background noise. Every course, every conversation, fully accessible.