I find it absurd that music in cafés and restaurants has become so loud that it’s hard to have conversations with the people on your table. Sound pollution is a real thing.
For cafe, sure!
For example, train stations tend to have high ceilings, so announcements are loud and full of echoes and reverbs. [0]
I think of sound a bit like WiFi: it’s better to have tons of low power speakers everywhere delivering a clear and non aggressive sound, than a handful of screaming speakers in a tight space: if you’re next to it it’s too loud, and far away it’s drown in reverb.
My guess is that architects and everyone else either don’t know or don’t care.
[0]: like the new Munich Main Station under construction, slide 2: https://entdecken.muenchen.de/en/station/26-4/
(and nobody will notice during slow times that we donn't actually have that many customers)
It's almost as if nightclubs are set up to prevent human interaction.