Noise and food.

Have you ever gone to a concert and midway through your favorite band's performance, you realize you were hungry? You pass through the crowd and go to the nearby stalls to buy whatever food you can buy - hotdogs, burgers, or fries. You take a bite off the hotdog to satisfy your hunger but you realize that "Hmm, this hotdog tastes different." Have you ever ridden a plane and ate your dinner up in the air? You thought that maybe your salad tastes a bit bland.

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While it could be possible that the food you ate was really bad or maybe it's possible that the sound in your surroundings affected your perception of taste. In a study done by Woods and colleagues (2010), background noise unrelated to food diminishes gustatory properties of food. Noise is defined as all other stimuli in the environment, but for this, we will define noise as the other auditory stimuli in the environment. 

According to Woods and colleagues, background noise made sweet and salty food taste less intense in noisy conditions. Food crunchiness was also enhanced in a noisy environment. Basically, they found that sound-mediated food cues were perceived more intensely in noise. So what does this mean?

This could imply that salty and sweet food taste less intense in noisy places like concerts. Maybe people will perceive the popcorn to be less salty which might end up with them adding more salt to the popcorn. Or maybe people would opt to buy for the more sugary, sweet foods during concerts, shows, and games with noisy crowds. When watching a movie, popcorn can also be perceived as crunchier. Crackers and biscuits could also be perceived as crunchier.

Marketers could use this information to know what kinds of food to sell at different events. They could opt to sell crunchier foods in flights, shows, and movies. They could also find healthier ways to make their food taste saltier and sweeter in noisy environments. Those who want to start a restaurant could also keep this in mind and make sure that their place does not produce a lot of auditory noise.

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-Sam Sanchez

Reference:

Woods, A.T., Poliakoff, E., Lloyd, D.M., Kuenzel, J., Hodson, R., Gonda, H., Batchelor, J., Dijksterhuis, G.B., & Thomas, A. Effect of background noise on food perception. Food Quality and Preference, 22, pp. 42-47.