A compliant room and an effortless room can read identically on the meter. The Cognitive Load Index measures the difference your guests actually feel.
Standard acoustic design stops at compliance. We design for the acoustic burden a room places on the brain over a whole evening.
Our framework translates physical acoustic measurements into a single, actionable score that predicts listening effort, mental fatigue and performance degradation over time.
That lets us measure the critical difference between two spaces which meet identical technical specifications yet feel fundamentally different to inhabit. The same methodology shapes every project, from a first drawing to commissioning, across hospitality venues and residential interiors alike.
The commercial case for measuring this is now well established. The largest field study of its kind, tracking 1.8 million restaurant transactions, found that music matched to the brand lifted revenue by 9.1 percent against a generic playlist, while the wrong music performed 4.3 percent worse than silence. A separate body of research from the Oxford Crossmodal Research Laboratory has shown that loud rooms suppress sweetness and saltiness in food, quietly reversing the kitchen’s work. The CLI exists because these outcomes are not about taste or preference. They are about how a room affects the cognitive state of the people inside it, and that is measurable.
Sources: HUI Research and Soundtrack Your Brand (2017); Spence, C. (2014). Flavour, 3:9.
The Index is a composite of four independently weighted domains. Explore each one to see how it moves the score. This is the instrument we run on every room.
Scores and weightings shown are an illustrative sample. Live project values are derived from on site measurement and your design intent.
Passes technical codes, yet leads to measurable performance degradation. The room people tolerate, then leave.
Minimum standards met. Comfortable in short bursts, though fatigue accumulates across a longer session.
Peak conditions where engagement is effortless. The room people settle into, stay in and return to.
The Index is not a report that gathers dust. It drives a three phase delivery that maps directly onto the RIBA timeline, from concept design through to handover.
We typically join at RIBA Stage 2, Concept Design, and stay through to Stage 5, Manufacturing and Construction, and Stage 6, Handover. Our three phases map directly onto that timeline, so audio enters the brief rather than the snagging list.
We attend design team meetings and issue specifications in formats compatible with contractor tender packs. Speaker positions, cable containment and acoustic treatment are coordinated against mechanical, electrical and lighting layouts to avoid clashes and rework.
At Acoustic Blueprint you receive a sonic strategy document, speaker layout and zone plan. During Engineered Procurement we issue a full specification schedule with product data sheets. At Precision Commissioning we deliver as built documentation, measurement reports and an operational handover pack.
Yes. Early involvement produces the best results, but we regularly join later. We assess what is still achievable within the current programme and provide pragmatic recommendations that work within existing constraints.
Book a thirty minute audio integration review. We map the acoustic risks in your current scheme and the moves that resolve them.
Why technically compliant rooms still fatigue the people inside them, and how the Cognitive Load Index fixes it. Our manifesto on designing for neurological comfort.