Senior living homes
Kitchen Acoustic Design for Senior living homes
Find the noise source and its route through the space. Treat sound leaking between rooms differently from echo inside one room.
Explore the ideas
Plan in this order
- List sources of speech, equipment and impact noise at the busiest time.
- Put quiet work away from busy edges where possible. Check doors, gaps and service penetrations before adding finishes.
- Use absorption for excessive echo. Ask an acoustic specialist where speech privacy or isolation is essential.
Worked example
A blender and extractor make conversation difficult in an open kitchen that faces the lounge.
Locate the loudest equipment away from the seating edge, add soft furnishings outside cooking clearances, and test with both rooms occupied.
How to test it
Recreate the noisier activity and listen from adjoining seats and rooms with doors both open and closed.
Apply it to this space
- Layout
- Keep daily dishes and ingredients between waist and shoulder reach, with a clear turning area.
- Detail
- Use contrasting counter edges, pull-out storage and even task light over work surfaces.
- Trade-off
- More accessible pull-outs can reduce closed storage volume.
- Try common tasks at the resident’s reach
- Check floor transitions and counter glare
The Elixir portfolio
Details worth a closer look
