This note is for mall owners / mall managers. Let’s start with looking at a few aspects of the mall. The first is about the kind of crowds that come in. At least in the Bangalorean context, with gardens and parks being turned into parking spots for malls (ironically), play area and lung spaces are fast disappearing. People have no place to go if they just want to go out and get some air, and get a feel of the city’s mood. This is quite unlike a few places in other countries I’ve seen – there are vast areas in the city center, meant for people to just sit around and bask in the sun (when they do get some). You’re not compelled to be visiting shops there – you can go there without a shopping list, and just hang around.
In Bangalore, Lalbagh and Cubbon Park used to be those kind of places, and people went to regular markets/santhes/petes for their shopping needs. Parks and churmuri were the mainstays when it came to relaxing outside.
Now malls have become those places where people just go and hang out, as well as shop. I think more than 80 % of the crowd that goes to mall does so for socializing. Most don’t have shopping on their list. Shopping is usually only incidental. I personally prefer the local shops for my grocery shopping – those kids can do fractions in their head! But being this new mom, sometimes I want all my work to get done in one place, so malls are useful there.
So what are the acoustical issues at malls?
Now here we hardly worry about acoustics – malls are fundamentally supposed to be abuzz with noise, quiet malls are a sign of bad times! But you’ll be surprised to know a few things. A visit to the mall might be a thrill or a nightmare, depending on how sensitive to sound you are. I know people who can’t handle the weekend buzz in malls, and finish all their shopping during weekdays – not just to beat the rush. My own husband is such an example – wild horses can’t drag him to a mall on weekends. 
From an acoustical perspective , the expected sources of noise are:
- noise from conversation
- noise from events run by companies – more during weekends
- noise from toys meant for children – play horses, play cars, etc – placed outside shops
- noise from bowling alleys
- noise from kids play areas – soft zones
- noise from the PA system
- noise from the food court
- and rarely, noise from the HVAC ducts and vents.
Now, this post assumes that the cinemas, gyms and spas have been acoustically treated and there isn’t noise leaking in and out of those sites. So we’ll only discuss noise sources listed above.
Why is noise a problem again?
It won’t kill anyone, yes. But people can choose how much time they want to spend at a place that sounds like a huge bathroom. As mall owners/product marketing guys, you’d would like them to hang around and witness publicity events.
Any studies conducted on mall noise?
Here are a few:
- Page 29 of this talks about mature customers rating noise as one of the negative experiences at a mall. The customers suggest carpeting – not at all feasible in the Indian context. Acoustical treatment can reduce noise levels without having to resort to such high maintenance options. http://173-254-37-135.bluehost.com/JSCR/2006_07_Articles/Hu%20and%20Jasper%202.pdf
- This post talks about a user not wanting to spend time at a mall due to irritating piped music being played there. http://www.brw.com.au/p/sections/focus/few_shoppers_sold_on_mall_mediocrity_7pFgD7969w83v6ofLuxUNI
- This one’s about the disasterous consequences of installing HVAC without caring for its acoustics. Professional acoustical consultants can analyse all this before it happens. http://www.greenprophet.com/2012/01/green-shopping-mall-israel-ungreen/
If you really want to study this before you take a decision, contact me and I’ll be happy to provide more sources to you.
So what happens to customer experience at a noisy mall?
The problems are
- low speech intelligibility
- ringing sounds
- general clamour
Low Speech Intelligibility
People will often strain their ears trying to listen to some DJ or someone on the mic trying to engage the crowd. Most might just find it easy to move away to a quieter place. But for having organized the show, mall owners/ product marketing managers would want people to hang around to ‘engage’ them.
One of my projects was based on such a case – the mall owner who approached us was convinced he could drive up the revenue on weekends by almost 40% if we could just take care of the speech intelligibility. You hear lots of noise everywhere – all around you – you hear people talk, but despite high amplification (high enough to drown out ambient crowd noise), you can’t make out what they’re saying.
Ringing Sounds
Stand around one of those events, and you’ll hear music unevenly – even if you’re right in front of the huge speakers put up. Some notes hang on forever, muffling others. The bass sounds muddled and is usually all over the place, merely adding to the noise. Hearing bands perform at malls has never been anything but torture for me. My favourite guys have played at malls close to my place, and I’ve had to turn back and come home because their words, lines, songs blended into one another due to echoes.
General Clamour
There are people who don’t hang around watching those events, but do go to malls to have a cup of coffee with friends -such people might find themselves shouting over the din. The noise does get to them after a while. My husband, for instance, forever prefers quiet, fine dining to eating at the food court. Typically high roofs provide for ample space for reverberation – so the sound energy tends to just hang on forever, in the absence of anything to absorb it. People do absorb noise, and we acousticians take that into account when designing auditoria, but in malls, they’re also the source of noise :).
That seems common across malls. What causes this?
Smooth interior finishes – huge glass showrooms in most places, smooth gypboards everywhere else. Large empty spaces waiting to get excited with sound and echoing on forever.
Right. The solution is…?
The best part is, the acoustical treatment need not be seen. These days, there’re so many products available, and for malls with a tight budget (if there’ such a thing ) local carpentry is always an option. If some of the treatment areas are unavoidably conspicuous, they can be used for publicity banners.
The amount of treatment must be carefully calculated – a dead-sounding mall is as uninviting as a painfully noisy one. Here’s a study actually recommending a decent amount of buzz. http://www.retailcustomerexperience.com/article/196427/Study-Background-noise-inspires-innovative-purchases
So in summary, all other factors remaining the same, the time people spend at a mall is a function of how comfortable they are with the ambient noise – among other things. And it’s so easy these days to make a mall sound more chirpy and less like a glorified, reverberant bathroom – without marring the interiors. People would spend more time catching up with each other on the food court if those didn’t all sound like “noisy railway canteens.”. I quote because a friend once described Koshys that way. Now some quaint old places just have to be noisy. I won’t have them any other way. But our malls could do with not sounding like deep, bottomless, echoing wells.
