Sound-Enhanced Food, Served with a Side of iPod
From the BBC:
It’s well documented how the appearance of food and its smell influence what we eat, but the effect sound has on taste is an expanding area of research. A recent study by scientists at Oxford University found certain tones could make things taste sweeter or more bitter.
“No experience is a single sense experience,” says Russell Jones, from sonic branding company Condiment Junkie, who were involved in the study. “So much attention is paid to what food looks like and what it smells like, but sound is just as important.”
The Bittersweet Study, conducted by Charles Spence, a professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University, found the taste of food could be adjusted by changing the sonic properties of a background soundtrack.
“We’re not entirely sure what happens in brain as yet, but something does happen and that’s really exciting,” says Jones.