Felipe Reinoso Carvalho

Using sound-taste correspondences to enhance the subjective value of tasting experiences

The soundscapes of those places where we eat and drink can influence our perception of taste. Here, we investigated whether contextual sound would enhance the subjective value of a tasting experience. The customers in a chocolate shop were invited to take part in an experiment in which they had to evaluate a chocolate’s taste while listening to an auditory stimulus. Four different conditions were presented in a between-participants design. Envisioning a more ecological approach, a pre-recorded piece of popular music and the shop’s own soundscape were used as the sonic stimuli. The results revealed that not only did the customers report having a significantly better tasting experience when the sounds were presented as part of the food’s identity, but they were also willing to pay significantly more for the experience. The method outlined here paves a new approach to dealing with the design of multisensory tasting experiences, and gastronomic situations.

A multisensory approach for the design of food and drink enhancing sonic systems

Everyday eating and drinking experiences involve multiple, interrelated, sensory inputs. However, when it comes to human-food interaction design (HFI) research, certain senses have received more attention than others have. Here, we focus on audition, a sense that has received limited attention in such context. In particular, we highlight the role of food/drink-related eating sounds, as a potential input for human-food interaction design. We review some of the few systems that have built on such sounds within food and drink contexts. We also present a multisensory design framework and discuss how the systematic connections that exist between the senses may provide some guidelines for the integration of eating sounds in HFI design. Finally, we present some key prospects that we foresee for research in technology design in HFI.

Music Influences Hedonic and Taste Ratings in Beer.

The research presented here focuses on the influence of background music on the beer-tasting experience. An experiment is reported in which different groups of customers tasted a beer under three different conditions (N = 231). The control group was presented with an unlabeled beer, the second group with a labeled beer, and the third group with a labeled beer together with a customized sonic cue (a short clip from an existing song). In general, the beer-tasting experience was rated as more enjoyable with music than when the tasting was conducted in silence. In particular, those who were familiar with the band that had composed the song, liked the beer more after having tasted it while listening to the song, than those who knew the band, but only saw the label while tasting. These results support the idea that customized sound-tasting experiences can complement the process of developing novel beverage (and presumably also food) events. We suggest that involving musicians and researchers alongside brewers in the process of beer development, offers an interesting model for future development. Finally, we discuss the role of attention in sound-tasting experiences, and the importance that a positive hedonic reaction toward a song can have for the ensuing tasting experience.

Sound-enhanced gustatory experiences and technology

We discuss whether sound can add value to peoples tasting experiences. The results presented here may be a source of inspiration for experience designers in the food industry wanting to add value to food/beverage products and/or to enhance multisensory tasting events. The available new technologies allow people to use sound as an input for moments associated with our eating and drinking habits. Here, we review three studies that used chocolate as taste stimulus. In general, the results revealed that sound can, in some cases and in different ways, modulate the taste/flavor of food (i.e., sweetness, bitterness, creaminess). These results also suggest that popular songs and soundscapes can add significant hedonic value while tasting. We discuss our results in light of new technologies (e.g., virtual reality), which offer both companies and consumers potential means for bringing customized multisensory eating and drinking experiences. We also discuss how this knowledge could be further applied - and perhaps improved - in order to make these experiences more scalable and applicable for the general public.

The Influence of Color on the Consumer's Experience of Beer.

Visual appearance (e.g., color) cues set expectations regarding the likely taste and flavor properties of food and drink. These expectations may, in turn, anchor the subsequent tasting experience. In the present study, we examined the influence of the color of a beer on the consumer’s experience. Dark and pale beers were evaluated both before and after tasting. Importantly, these beers were indistinguishable in terms of their taste/flavor when tasted without any visual cues. The results indicate that the differing visual appearance of the beers led to clear differences in expected taste/flavor. However, after tasting, no differences in flavor ratings were observed, indicating that the expectations based on visual cues did not influence the actual tasting experience. The participants also expected the dark beer to be more expensive than the pale one. These outcomes suggest that changes in the visual appearance of a beer lead to significant changes in the way in which consumers expect the beer to taste. At the same time, however, our findings also suggest the need for more evidence to be collected in order to determine the boundary conditions on when such crossmodal expectations may vs. may not affect the tasting experience. Highlights: The expected flavor of a beer is affected by its visual appearance. No differences in flavor ratings were observed on tasting. Consumers expect dark beers to be more expensive than pale/amber beers.

Using Sound to Enhance Taste Experiences: An Overview

We present an overview of the recent research conducted by the first author of this article, in which the influence of sound on the perception of taste/flavor in beer is evaluated. Three studies in total are presented and discussed. These studies assessed how people match different beers with music and the influence that the latter can have on the perception and enjoyment of the beers. In general, the results revealed that in certain contexts sound can modulate the perceived strength and taste attributes of the beer as well as its associated hedonic experience. We conclude by discussing the potential mechanisms behind these taste-flavor/sound interactions, and the implications of these studies in the context of multisensory food and drink experience design. We suggest that future work may also build on cognitive neuroscience. In particular, such an approach may complement our understanding of the underlying brain mechanisms of auditory/gustatory interactions.