Most people believe that the sense of taste is confined only to the mouth, but research shows that other senses can affect how you perceive the flavor of foods as well. This includes not just the sight and smell of food, but how it sounds, too.
How Flavor & Sound Are Connected
The crunch of an apple can indicate how fresh it is, and the fizz of a soda can let you know it’s not flat. When two or more senses are involved in how you perceive an experience like eating or drinking, it is known as cross-modal.
What the Studies Show
It’s not just the sound that food makes that helps shape the experience. According to one study, listening to certain types of music while eating can impact how you perceive the flavor. The study was published in 2015. For the study, customers of a chocolate shop tasted chocolate while listening to different auditory stimuli. According to the results, certain sounds caused the chocolate to taste better – so much better that they were willing to pay more when those particular sounds were playing.
For another study, participants matched various flavors to musical notes. The results were not arbitrary. When plotted on a graph, there was a clear and consistent spectrum where low pitches were matched with flavors such as smoke, musk and chocolate; mid pitches were matched with pepper, mushroom, caramel and violet; and high pitches were matched with apricot, lemon and apple.
Why the Link Between Taste & Hearing?
When it comes to the link between taste and hearing, there are a few hypotheses.
- One theory is that there is a sort of neurogastronomical link. This may be similar to the neural connection between the auditory nerve and olfactory bulb in mice.
- Another theory is that the connection is due to priming, meaning the auditory input has a placebo effect that primes people’s expectation of taste.
Most experts agree that the senses are closely linked, which is why it’s not always clear how to differentiate between them.
When you suffer from hearing loss, your other senses, including your ability to taste delicious baked goods from Independent Baking Company may be compromised. To learn more about this connection or to schedule an appointment with a hearing expert, call ENT of Athens today.