Motivation and emotion/Book/2024/Sound and perception of food and drink

Sound and perception of food and drink:
How does sound influence the taste and enjoyment of food and drink?

Multimedia presentation (3 min)

Overview

Scenario: Sound and perception of food and drink Figure 1. Even a Caesar salad needs a good "crunch" to be fully enjoyable Imagine sitting down to enjoy a carefully prepared meal at your favourite restaurant. The aroma is enticing, the presentation is highly appealing, and you're ready to savour every bite. But as you take that first bite, you're disappointed by the lack of "crunch" from the salad's croutons and the noise from a nearby table is making it hard to focus on the gorgeous flavours of your highly anticipated meal (see Figure 1). You might not realise it, but the sounds you hear - or don't hear - are largely impacting your dining experience.

Enjoyment of food and drink is not only based on taste; it is a multi-sensory experience. From the fizz of a carbonated drink to the clatter of dishes in the background, the sounds associated with food and the dining environment can enhance or diminish enjoyment.

This book chapter explores how these sounds influence peoples perception of food and drink, with reference to underlying psychological theories and mechanisms that make certain sounds more satisfying, as well as how auditory cues even influence motivation to eat. Whether it's the perfect crunch, the right ambiance, or the subtle sounds that are barely noticed in surrounding environments, sound shapes dining experiences in more ways than expected.

Focus questions: Where does motivation for an enjoyable food and drink experience come from? What are the cross-modal effects experienced during eating and drinking? How can eating behaviours and motivation change?

The origins of food and drink enjoyment

The reasons behind food and drink enjoyment stem from the most basic human survival instincts. Early studies on the relationship between sound and flavour perception, combined with modern research into the psychological, cultural, and social significance of food, show just how complex and important consumption experiences are.

The innate motivation for hunger and thirst

Figure 2. Maslow's hierarchy of needs (1943) places motivation for food and drink at the most basic level

Human motivation for food, drink, and enjoyment derives from the most basic survival instincts of hunger and thirst. This closely aligns with Maslow's (1943) hierarchy of needs (see Figure 2), where motivations to seek out food and drink are embedded in the human body's physiological need to maintain balance and ensure survival (Sternson et al., 2013). When an individual's body signals they need energy or hydration, motivation to eat and drink is powerful in directing their behaviour and decisions (Reeve, 2018). Biological disturbances such as thirst and hunger, are deficiency needs (Reeve, 2018) that arise when the body experiences a lack of essential nutrients, prompting us to take action to restore balance and ensure survival by seeking out food and drink. For more information, see:

• Hunger motivation (Book chapter, 2010)
• Thirst and dehydration (Book chapter, 2014)

The study of hearing and flavour perception: A brief history

Food scientists began exploring how sound influences food and drink perception during the mid-20th century, with early studies largely focusing on how environment (background) noise affects taste (Spence, 2015). Birger Drake (1970) expanded on this research by analysing the sounds produced when food was chewed or crushed, discovering differences in amplitude, frequency, and timing (Spence, 2015; Yan et al., 2015). Zata Vickers (1991) furthered this work, showing that certain pitches of sounds could be linked to specific food-related textures (i.e., crunchiness and crispness) (Spence, 2015).

Later research also linked sound to flavour perception. For example, Ferber and Cabanac (1987) found loud noises to negatively impact the enjoyment of food. Crisinel and Spence (2009) and Woods and colleagues (2011) demonstrated associations between sound pitch and taste, suggesting auditory stimuli play a significant role in shaping someones tasting experience. These auditory cues, combined with cultural and linguistic differences in texture perception, highlight the complexity of the food and drink experience (Spence, 2015; Yan et al., 2015).

Why is enjoyment for food so important?

Eating and drinking habits are deeply intertwined with essential moral and social values. Research has consistently shown that humans have become an increasingly 'consumption-oriented society', whereby food and drink play an increasingly central role in peoples lives (Locher et al., 2005; Silver, 1996). Dining experiences are therefore a key element of connection, where restaurants and bars are popular spaces for socialising and unwinding over a nice meal or refreshing beverage. In many ways, dining can reinforce personal bonds as well as broader cultural values (Silver, 1996; Spence, 2015).

Locher and colleagues (2005) also highlight the modern world's large dependence on comfort foods to cope with stress, psychological discomfort, and sadness, reflecting broader trends in society where food serves both nutritional and emotional purposes (Dunbar, 2017). Additionally, the things we consume, particularly food, can shape personal and social identities. Impulses and needs in this nature constitute the foundation for many forms of social behaviour and belonging (Locher et al., 2005). For more information see Social eating connects communities (University of Oxford) or in Dunbar (2017).

Case study: Jessica's Dining Experience Jessica is a 32 year old accountant, who occasionally loves visiting new restaurants around town. She's always seeking places with unique food and a nice ambiance. One Saturday evening, she invites her mother to come dine with her at a new trendy Asian fusion restaurant. It is currently her favourite cuisine and she's been craving some dumplings over the last couple of days. It has a huge dumpling menu, so she eagerly orders some pork dumplings with a fresh Asian side salad, while her mother chooses some sizzling pepper steak to follow ...

Food and drink perception as a multisensory experience

The consumption of food and drink is one of the most multisensory perceptual experiences for humans, engaging all five senses to create a rich, integrated experience. That is, food and drink perception does not just depend on individual senses, but is a result from the multisensory integration of all five (Vi et al., 2020; Pereira & van der Bilt, 2016). Stated by world class chef, Heston Blumenthal, "Eating is the only thing that we do that involves all of the senses. I don't think that we realise just how much influence the senses actually have on the way that we process information from mouth to brain" (Spence, 2015, p. 2). This multisensory integration, understood through cross-modal effects, is grounded in psychological theories such as Ayres' Sensory Integration Theory and Grossberg's Adaptive Resonance Theory, which highlight the complex, psychologically driven nature of eating and drinking experiences.

Cross-modal effects

Cross-modal effects refer to interactions between different sensory modalities, such as sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. In the context of perception, it means that the experience of interpreting one sense can influence or alter the perception of another (Zampini & Spence, 2010). Cross-modal effects of taste and sound for example, explain how the crunchiness of food can be perceived as less intense if the sound associated with it is muffled, interrupted, or blatantly absent. These interactions highlight the complex nature of sensory perception and the brain's ability to integrate information from multiple senses to create a unified experience (Crisinel & Spence, 2009; Zampini & Spence, 2010). These cross-modal effects, especially during eating and drinking, have been thoroughly researched, revealing that what people hear - food-related or not - can significantly influence their perceptions of taste and flavour (Zampini & Spence, 2010).

Psychological underpinnings

Psychological theory helps to further explain these interactions across sensory modalities;

Ayres' sensory integration theory

Figure 3. American occupational therapist and founder of ASI, Jean Ayres (1920-1988)

Sensory integration theory (commonly referred to as Ayres' Sensory Integration (ASI), developed by Jean Ayres, focuses on how the brain integrates sensory information from various modalities (i.e., sight, sound, smell, and touch). A large amount of Ayres work focused on developing intervention strategies to understand and treat children with learning and behavioural challenges (refer to Figure 3, or sensory integration therapy for more information).

According to ASI, difficulties in integrating sensory information can influence how people react to stimuli. For instance, sensory inputs such as the sound of chewing, background noise, and food textures all contribute to an individuals overall perception of food. The ASI framework suggests this integration of multiple sensory inputs is relied on for meaningful experience (Lane et al., 2019).

ASI supports the presence of cross-modal effects within food perception. For instance, studies have found sound-taste associations, where high-pitched sounds are linked to sweet and sour tastes, while low-pitched sounds are linked with bitterness (Crisinel & Spence, 2009; Motoki et al., 2019). ASI helps explain how the brain naturally seeks to synthesise information from different senses to create a unified perception of food (Lane et al., 2019). Additionally, Knoeferle and colleagues (2015) found staccato (short and fast) sounds are associated with crunchiness, while legato (smooth and continuous) sounds evoke creaminess. These findings emphasise a connection between auditory and gustatory senses, reinforcing how auditory stimuli connect with textural sensations. Sensory integration therefore serves as a fundamental basis of the cross-modal effects that arise during food and drink perception.

Adaptive resonance theory

Adaptive resonance theory (ART) is a more recent cognitive neural theory, developed by Stephen Grossberg (2013), explaining how the brain autonomously processes information based on prior experience and stored memories. ART can also explain how and why cross-modal effects emerge during sensory perception. That is, how expectations in one sensory modality (i.e., sound) influence perception in another modality (i.e., taste). As the brain is constantly integrating sensory inputs from multiple sources, perception remains stable and adaptive when the sensory information is consistent with expectations (Grossberg, 2013). However, when the sensory input from a sound does not align with what someone expects to taste, the brain may struggle to adapt and thus food/drink perception is altered. This process of using prior knowledge and expectations to interpret sensory input is known as 'top-down processing'. These top-down processes act like filters, guiding attention toward the most relevant cues in the environment (Grossberg, 2013). ART describes this process as "biased competition", where certain stimuli are given priority over others based on how well they align with expectations. The brain is then focused on the most important information at any given time to form these 'expectations' (De Lange et al., 2018; Grosseberg, 2013).

Expectations, influenced by previous experiences or cultural cues, shape how food is perceived. Top-down processing helps explain how a person's past experiences, such as memory of a flavour, can influence or even enhance the way they perceive new tastes (Grossberg, 2013). If the salad (Figure 1) is expected to be crispy but isn't, it can lead to disappointment and reduced enjoyment due to sensory expectations being disrupted. If the sound (such as a crunch) matches the expectation, the perception is reinforced and leads to satisfaction.

Quiz

1 Multisensory integration is a psychological theory that explains how the brain combines information from multiple senses to create a unified perceptual experience:

	True
	False

2 Top-down processing is associated with which psychological theory:

	Multisensory Integration
	Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART)
	Ayres' Sensory Integration (ASI)

Case study: Jessica's Dining Experience As she begins her meal, Jessica notices the noodles in her Asian salad are not satisfying to eat. They don't have the usual crunch to them and instead seem a bit soggy. As she continues to eat, she becomes increasingly aware of a loud conversation at the table next to them. She then starts to hear a baby crying loudly on the table directly behind her mother, and is also drawn to a constant clatter of dishes being cleared away at the same table. Jessica gives her mother a disappointed look upon realising that the noise in the restaurant is affecting her dining experience that she was initially so excited for. The loud background sounds are not only distracting her but also making the noodles seem less crunchy, the steak less sizzling, and the entire meal less enjoyable. Despite the food looking delicious, the auditory environment is really ruining her overall experience ...

Auditory cues

The sounds that motivate someone to consume - or to refrain from it - come in various forms;

Food/drink-related sounds

Figure 4. A can of Coke is expected to 'fizz' as it's opened, signaling its refreshing taste

The sounds related to food and drink upon consumption, such as the crunch of a chip, fizz of a carbonated drink, sizzle of steak, or the snap of a carrot stick, often indicate the quality and overall freshness of what is being consumed. Research has shown the significant role these sounds play in how people evaluate food/drink quality. While they are shown to influence perception, conversely the masking of those sounds can also reduce enjoyment (Spence & Shankar, 2010; Zampini & Spence, 2010).

This links to ART, which suggests that when the sensory inputs (e.g., the expected 'fizz' of a soft drink) match stored knowledge from past experiences, they result in a satisfying perception (of that fizzy beverage) (see Figure 4). If the input differs too much from expectations, the brain may either adjust its perception or experience a form of 'dissonance', diminishing enjoyment thereof (Grossberg, 2013). Spence and Shankar (2010) highlight this also applies to food packaging. For example, they reported a study where participants rated potato chips about 5% crispier when listening to the sound of a noisy packet (e.g., Kettles or Walkers) compared to white noise or the sound of a Pringles tube being opened. These auditory cues offer valuable insights into how sound influences eating motivation and behaviour, explaining why certain foods and drinks may be more enjoyable based on the sounds they make.

Misophonia

Figure 5. Depiction of intense emotional response experienced by people with misophonia

While auditory cues like chewing, crunching, and slurping can enhance perception of food and drink for many, they can trigger strong, negative emotional responses in others. Misophonia, a condition involving heightened sensitivity to specific eating and drinking sounds, can cause intense discomfort, anxiety, and sometimes anger (see Figure 5). This further demonstrates the complex nature of sensory integration, whereby the same auditory cues that can enhance food and drink experience for most people can diminish it for others (Spence, 2020). Check out this book chapter (2017) for a detailed analysis of misophonia.

Environmental sounds

Ambient noise and atmospheric effects such as music and background conversations also play a large role in food/drink perception. Auditory cues from the environment can influence people's perception of flavour and subsequent enjoyment (Zampini & Spence, 2010).

Sound has consistently been shown to be an important element for the ambiance, comfort, and setting of restaurants and bars. In fact, noise has become a major issue for patrons, ranking as the second most common complaint after poor service (Spence, 2014). This has led critics to frequently assess noise level, alongside food quality in their reviews. Whether it be the 'clatter' of dishes being cleared, loud music, or enthusiastic conversation, increased noise levels in restaurants is shown to impair peoples ability to smell, taste, and enjoy the flavours of what they eat and drink (Spence, 2014). The established connection between auditory and gustatory senses reinforces the relevance of ASI in understanding how environmental auditory cues affect food experiences (Lane et al., 2019).

Modifying taste through soundscapes

• "Sonic seasoning" is a more recent trend in restaurants, bars, design, and marketing where tailored soundtracks are paired with specific foods and beverages to modify peoples perception. This technique is growing, facilitating future innovations and the design of eating experience (Wang, 2017).
• Crisinel and colleagues (2012) demonstrated the pitch of music to influence taste perception. They found that participants perceived toffee as sweeter when they listened to higher-pitched soundscapes, as opposed to lower-pitched ones.
• Similarly, large-scale experiments with whisky and wine have demonstrated that background music or soundscapes can alter consumer perceptions across a range of taste and flavour characteristics; such as the 'woodiness' of whisky or the 'fruitiness' of wine (North, 2012; Spence et al., 2013; Velasco et al., 2013).
• Spence and colleagues (2013) also found classical music to enhance the overall experience of drinking wine. For example, Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No.1 matched well with red wine, while Mozart's Flute Quartet was better suited to white wine.

Case study: Jessica's Dining Experience Once they finish their meal, Jessica asks her mother if she enjoyed it. She says she loved it, and that was one of the best steaks she's had in a while! Jessica comes to realise that her own dissatisfaction wasn't at all due to the food itself but to the noise that overshadowed her meal. The experience makes her more conscious of how sound can interrupt her perception of food and as a result finds herself more drawn to quieter restaurants, where she can fully enjoy the crunch of her food and its rich flavours without any disruption.

Figure 6. Structural factors in restaurants can influence noise and diminish patrons' experience Real-life Case: Max's Eatery (Kanopi by Armstrong World Industries) Max's Eatery was an old-school diner, designed with hard surfaces and open-ceilings This made for a loud and distracting dining experience, leaving their customers with ringing ears and lost conversations (see Figure 6) They had to install noise-reducing ceiling panels, designed to absorb 80% of the noise that hit them This led to vast improvements of a near 40% acoustical reduction As a result, overall noise levels were decreased and the dining experience of both patrons and servers was dramatically enhanced

Conclusion

The tastes people experience while dining are profoundly influenced by sound. Motivation for food and drink stems from basic survival instincts and has evolved into habits of deep cultural and social significance. The high-standards people now hold for dining experiences highlight the importance of senses in shaping their enjoyment. Psychological theories about cross-modal interactions reveal the intricate ways someones senses impact their perception of flavour.

Often overlooked, sound emerges as a vital component of the eating experience, influencing not only how something tastes but also how enjoyable a meal is. Musical-taste combinations further reflect cross-modal effects that continuously shape human perception. A vast range of auditory cues from the sounds of consumption to the carefully curated soundscapes of dining environments allows restaurants and marketers to enhance customer satisfaction and engagement in more ways than expected.

As research continues to explore the complex interplay between sound and taste, it has become clear that understanding this relationship can enhance and ultimately transform dining experiences. Through the multisensory nature of eating, it is evident that every crunch, fizz, and note of music has the power to elevate meals and forge deeper connections with food, each other, and the symphony of flavours that shape the culinary world.

See also

• Adaptive resonance theory (Wikipedia)
• Dehydration and mood (Book chapter, 2014)
• Hunger motivation (Book chapter, 2010)
• Misophonia (Book chapter, 2017)
• Multisenory integration (Wikipedia)
• Sensory integration theory (Wikipedia)

References

Crisinel, A. S., & Spence, C. (2009). Implicit association between basic tastes and pitch. Neuroscience Letters, 464(1), 39–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2009.08.016

Crisinel, A. S., Cosser, S., King, S., Jones, R., Petrie, J., & Spence, C. (2012). A bittersweet symphony: Systematically modulating the taste of food by changing the sonic properties of the soundtrack playing in the background. Food Quality and Preference, 24(1), 201–204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2011.08.009

De Lange, F. P., Heilbron, M., & Kok, P. (2018). How do expectations shape perception?. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 22(9), 764–779. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2018.06.002

Dunbar, R. I. (2017). Breaking bread: the functions of social eating. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, 3(3), 198–211. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40750-017-0061-4

Grossberg, S. (2013). Adaptive Resonance Theory: How a brain learns to consciously attend, learn, and recognize a changing world. Neural Networks, 37, 1–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neunet.2012.09.017

Knoeferle, K. M., Woods, A., Käppler, F., & Spence, C. (2015). That sounds sweet: Using cross‐modal correspondences to communicate gustatory attributes. Psychology & Marketing, 32(1), 107–120. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20766

Lane, S. J., Mailloux, Z., Schoen, S., Bundy, A., May-Benson, T. A., Parham, L. D., Roley, S. S., & Schaaf, R. C. (2019). Neural foundations of Ayres' Sensory Integration. Brain Sciences, 9(7), 153. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci9070153

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Reeve, J. (2018). Understanding Motivation and Emotion. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN: Paperback 978-1-119-36760-4

Silver, I. (1996). Role transitions, objects, and identity. Symbolic Interaction, 19(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1525/si.1996.19.1.1

Spence, C., & Shankar, M. U. (2010). The influence of auditory cues on the perception of, and responses to, food and drink. Journal of Sensory Studies, 25(3), 406–430. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-459X.2009.00267.x

Spence, C., Richards, L., Kjellin, E., Huhnt, A. M., Daskal, V., Scheybeler, A., Velasco, C., & Deroy, O. (2013). Looking for crossmodal correspondences between classical music and fine wine. Flavour, 2, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1186/2044-7248-2-29

Spence, C. (2014). Noise and its impact on the perception of food and drink. Flavour, 3, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1186/2044-7248-3-9

Spence, C. (2015). Eating with our ears: Assessing the importance of the sounds of consumption on our perception and enjoyment of multisensory flavour experiences. Flavour, 4, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1186/2044-7248-4-3

Spence, C. (2020). Extraordinary emotional responses elicited by auditory stimuli linked to the consumption of food and drink. Acoustical Science and Technology, 41(1), 28–36. https://doi.org/10.1250/ast.41.28

Sternson, S. M., Betley, J. N., & Cao, Z. F. H. (2013). Neural circuits and motivational processes for hunger. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 23(3), 353–360. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2013.04.006

Velasco, C., Jones, R., King, S., & Spence, C. (2013). The sound of temperature: What information do pouring sounds convey concerning the temperature of a beverage. Journal of Sensory Studies, 28(5), 335–345. https://doi.org/10.1111/joss.12052

Vi, C. T., Marzo, A., Memoli, G., Maggioni, E., Ablart, D., Yeomans, M., & Obrist, M. (2020). LeviSense: A platform for the multisensory integration in levitating food and insights into its effect on flavour perception. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 139, 102428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2020.102428

Woods, A. T., Poliakoff, E., Lloyd, D. M., Kuenzel, J., Hodson, R., Gonda, H., Batchelor, J., Dijksterhuis, G. B., & Thomas, A. (2011). Effect of background noise on food perception. Food Quality and Preference, 22(1), 42–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2010.07.003

Yan, K. S., & Dando, R. (2015). A crossmodal role for audition in taste perception. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 41(3), 590. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000044

Zampini, M., & Spence, C. (2010). Assessing the role of sound in the perception of food and drink. Chemosensory Perception, 3, 57–67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12078-010-9064-2

External links

• Sensory integration therapy (Raising Children Network Australia)
• Social eating connects communities (University of Oxford)
• The too-noisy restaurant revolution (Kanopi by Armstrong World Industries)
• Top-down processing (YouTube)