“Smooth operator”: Music modulates the perceived creaminess, sweetness, and bitterness of chocolate

Abstract

There has been a recent growth of interest in determining whether sound (specifically music and soundscapes) can enhance not only the basic taste attributes associated with food and beverage items (such as sweetness, bitterness, sourness, etc.), but also other important components of the tasting experience, such as, for instance, crunchiness, creaminess, and/or carbonation. In the present study, participants evaluated the perceived creaminess of chocolate. Two contrasting soundtracks were produced with such texture-correspondences in mind, and validated by means of a pre-test. The participants tasted the same chocolate twice (without knowing that the chocolates were identical), each time listening to one of the soundtracks. The 'creamy' soundtrack enhanced the perceived creaminess and sweetness of the chocolates, as compared to the ratings given while listening to the 'rough' soundtrack. Moreover, while the participants preferred the creamy soundtrack, this difference did not appear to affect their overall enjoyment of the chocolates. Interestingly, and in contrast with previous similar studies, these results demonstrate that in certain cases, sounds can have a perceptual effect on gustatory food attributes without necessarily altering the hedonic experience.

The Influence of Auditory Cues on Bodily and Movement Perception

“…Last, environment features appear important to such an effect: haptic softness perceptions were only modulated by soft music when consumers were standing on a hard (vs. soft, carpeted) flooring. Interestingly, similar effects of 'soft' music have been seen in gustation: chocolate is perceived as creamier and sweeter when paired with 'soft' (vs. 'hard') music (Reinoso Carvalho et al, 2017).…”

Bittersweet Findings: Round Cups Fail to Induce Sweeter Taste

“…Another possibility could trace back to the specific mouth feel associated with butter milk, for instance its creamy consistency. There is evidence that creaminess correlates with sweetness [11,12], which may have influenced participants' sweetness perception. At this point, however, both explanations are speculative only.…”

“…Therefore, it cannot be excluded that shapes elicit specific tastes only when consumers are actively engaging in taste searching on the basis of information provided, for example, when consciously examining new products [1], or when specifically instructed to do so in a laboratory setting. Moreover, effects for beverages are bound to rely on product-extrinsic cues like cups or packaging elements (e.g., see [21] for an overview of the different ways beverage containers may influence perception, for instance by changing how the liquid flows through the mouth), whereas for other food categories, like chocolates [11,12], the shape of the product itself can be manipulated.…”

Sweeter together? Assessing the combined influence of product‐related and contextual factors on perceived sweetness of fruit beverages

“…Similar sonic seasoning effects using independent taste scales (i.e., separate scales for sweet, bitter, sour, etc.) using nonfood‐sound‐related soundtracks have since been found in food and beverage stimuli ranging from beer, chocolate, salsa, and wine (Reinoso‐Carvalho, Wang, Van Ee, Persoone, & Spence, ; Reinoso‐Carvalho, Wang, Van Ee, & Spence, ; Wang, Keller, & Spence, ; Wang & Spence, ).…”