What do shops have to say about piped music?

If you have hypersensitive hearing (HYPERACUSIS) like me it is sheer hell to go into shops and restaurants. Very low mood music would be acceptable surely to most people.

We went for a meal in a popular Italian restaurant in Whickham, Newcastle last Thursday . It was only 6 pm as we had young children with us. The food is great, the staff are lovely but the music was so loud we couldn’t talk normally and the children began to shout. We asked for the volume to be turned down and it was, but it gradually crept back up. Worth a visit for the food but make sure you don’t get a table beside a speaker.

I agree with others, this should be raised as a health issue. I believe that it is a form of discrimination as it prevents a large section of the community unable to shop freely because of noise. I have a chronic illness and one of the symptoms is hypersensitivity to noise. So it’s not just annoying to hear the noise it is actually physically painful. I do ask shops to turn music down but the act of doing so is frequently humiliating and often met with disbelief. In addition it is well documented that as you get older you lose the ability to block out background noise, so for those who just ‘block it out’ not everyone has this ability. The fact that people are consciously blocking it out means that they do not really want or need the noise. Shops use music not for customer pleasure but as a method for people to shop/eat quicker and therefore free up parking/tables to increase profits.

Because music in shops is broadcast some people will inevitably not like the choice of music or simply want to listen to it whilst shopping – so why do it?. The answer seems to be that company executives are taken in by the bogus “research” claims made by sellers of piped music that it increases sales. It doesn’t. . Another reason sometimes given in banks and waiting rooms is that aids privacy. A moment’s though shows this to be false because if you speak quietly you won’t be heard above the muzak so you have to speak louder because the music.
In my view much of the music is very low quality (musically and the actual sound quality.so is very irritating as well as distracting. After a few minutes I can’t wait to escape. The staff sometimes turn it down if asked, but often they’re powerless to do anything as it’s dictated by “head office”. Many of the staff hate having to listen to it all day (whatever happened to human rights?).
Sometimes I give the staff Pipedown cards (printed cards from Pipedown – see their website – which ask the store to turn off the muzak). They’re almost always amused and say “can I keep this to show to my manager”. Occaisonally they get annoyed (but this is usually a manager).

I loathe muzak in shops and resent the implicit attempt at brainwashing. It never seems to occur to the management that people like different sorts of music and like to choose when they hear it. I respond by never buying anything in these places.

My doctor’s surgery has recently started relaying a local radio station in the waiting room. When I complained I was told it was to protect confidentiality. This is ludicrous since one now has to shout above the noise level to make oneself heard so confidentiality is compromised. I find it so distressing that I cannot wait in this room and so risk missing appointments and will now not make an appointment unless I am almost “at death’s door”. I have tried writing and complaining verbally but to no avail. Any suggestions would be welcomed.