The sound of sweet, salty, bitter and bland.

Imagine eating something crunchy, a deep fried chicken perhaps, or chicharon? But for some reason, when you started chewing, there was no "crunchy" sound. Oops! You might think "Something is definitely wrong with this food." You will probably spit it out! You might even think you have gone deaf. This scenario demonstrates the role of sound in eating. But we all know that eating involves more than our sense of taste. There are visual cues, olfactory and audio ones. For this entry, we will focus on the relationship of sound and sweets. Is there such thing as the sound of "sweetness"?

In 2010, Crisinel and Spence conducted a study in which flavor perception differed due to the change in pitch of the tone that was being played at the time of consumption. In their study, they discovered that the same food will taste much sweeter when a high-pitched tone was played. When the same food was presented but accompanied by a low-pitched tone, the participants rated the food as more bitter. You can try doing this experiment on your own by clicking on the link below. (The sound file is embedded in the news article.)


In another article by Jason Palmer (2010), he wrote on the effects of background noise in flavor perception. He states that background noise affects the intensity of flavor though it does not have much effect on the "crunchiness" of the food. This helps explain why most people say that airplane food is bland or is horrible. 

So what does this tell us? Simply put, sound affects our taste buds! So if you want to savor that meal or even a snack, go somewhere where there is less noise. :)

Link to audio and try it yourself experiment:

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/2012/04/what-does-sweetness-sound-like/

*Note: "Audio courtesy of Scott King and Russ Jones of Condiment Junkie."

Read more: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/2012/04/what-does-sweetness-sound-like/#ixzz2eNB1AT1P
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

Reference:
Crisinel, A., & Spence, C. (2010). A sweet sound? Food Names Reveal Implicit Associations Between Taste and Pitch. Perception , 417-425. Palmer, J. (2010, October 14). Background Noise Affects Taste of Foods, Research Shows. Retrieved September 9, 2013, from BBC: News Science & Environment: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11525897 Smith, P. (2012, April 5). Food and Think. Retrieved Spetember 9, 2013, from Smithsonina.com: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/2012/04/what-does-sweetness-sound-like/ 
Pictures:
Picture 1: http://www.intelligentdental.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/top-10-healthiest-sweets.jpg
Picute 2: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/06/21/article-2345162-1A6F7321000005DC-517_634x417.jpg