TY - JOUR

T1 - The influence of soundscapes on the perception and evaluation of beers

AU - Reinoso Carvalho, Felipe

AU - Wang, Qian Janice

AU - Van Ee, Raymond

AU - Spence, Charles

N1 - Funding Information: We would like to thank François Nelissen, Yvan de Baets, Jo Santy, Ilja Van Braeckel, Matthias Carlier, Maite Bezunartea, Ta Kim Hue, Marie-Paule Uwase, and Bruno da Silva for their contribution to various parts of this project. We would also like to thank the crew from ‘La Brasserie de la Senne’, for producing and donating the beer samples used in this experiment, and the MIM crew for their kind support during the development of the experiment at the museum. Publisher Copyright: © 2016.

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - The effect of soundscapes on the taste evaluation of beers was analyzed in the research reported here. Three experiments were conducted in which participants tasted a beer twice, and rated the experience, each time under the influence of a different sound stimulus. The participants were not informed that they were, in fact, tasting the same beer. The objective was to determine whether soundtracks that have previously been shown to correspond to the different basic tastes would significantly modulate the perceived sweetness, bitterness, sourness, and alcohol content of the beers. Overall, the soundtracks influenced the participants' rating of the beers' taste and strength. Furthermore, a control study involving tasting the same beers without sonic stimuli, confirmed that these results could not simply be explained in terms of order (or adaptation) effects. These results therefore point to sensation transference as the potential mechanism underlying the observed crossmodal modulations of taste by sound. The present study underlines the potential of sound to enhance eating/drinking experiences. In this way, those working in the food industry may feel progressively more confident in adopting new multisensory techniques while designing eating/drinking experiences.

AB - The effect of soundscapes on the taste evaluation of beers was analyzed in the research reported here. Three experiments were conducted in which participants tasted a beer twice, and rated the experience, each time under the influence of a different sound stimulus. The participants were not informed that they were, in fact, tasting the same beer. The objective was to determine whether soundtracks that have previously been shown to correspond to the different basic tastes would significantly modulate the perceived sweetness, bitterness, sourness, and alcohol content of the beers. Overall, the soundtracks influenced the participants' rating of the beers' taste and strength. Furthermore, a control study involving tasting the same beers without sonic stimuli, confirmed that these results could not simply be explained in terms of order (or adaptation) effects. These results therefore point to sensation transference as the potential mechanism underlying the observed crossmodal modulations of taste by sound. The present study underlines the potential of sound to enhance eating/drinking experiences. In this way, those working in the food industry may feel progressively more confident in adopting new multisensory techniques while designing eating/drinking experiences.

KW - Beer

KW - Experience design

KW - Gastrophysics

KW - Perception

KW - Sound

KW - Taste

U2 - 10.1016/j.foodqual.2016.03.009

DO - 10.1016/j.foodqual.2016.03.009

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:84962288378

VL - 52

SP - 32

EP - 41

JO - Food Quality and Preference

JF - Food Quality and Preference

SN - 0950-3293

ER -