Running head: LINKS BETWEEN MUSIC AND FOOD

The Links Between Music and Food

Clementina Canava
The University of Texas at El Paso

LINKS BETWEEN MUSIC AND FOOD

The Links Between Music and Food

The five senses is a concept that is taught to all of us at a very young age. Taste, smell,
hearing, touch, and seeing, which is a faculty on how the body perceives stimulus. The definition
of sound is the vibrations that travel through the air that can be heard when reaching an ear. It is
obvious that some of the senses have more of an effect on each other than others. What has been
mentioned the most is smell and taste having a great impact on each other. What has not really
been noticed is the effects that hearing and taste have on each other. In fact, over the past 70
years or so, researchers have demonstrated that our perception of food and drink is far more
multisensory than previously realized. (Spence). The results from most studies have shown that
the impression is greater than what the general public would have guessed, or have been taught.
In this essay there will be a display of studies and research that have been conducted in other
articles, in order to explain the reasons of why there is such a great effect. The positive and
negative aspects of the research will also be mentioned as well as how these two variables affect
each other as well as the human race in the research. In these different studies, it was explained
that the different components that make up music, the different genres of music, conversations,
and the effect that music from different regions have on the way that food and beverages taste.
There are many different components that make up music. For example pitch, tempo, and
volume or dynamics. These three components have the most significant impact on food
consumption as well as the taste perception. Pitch for example, as well as instrumentation has an
effect on the way that we taste. For example, if the pitch is lower you might taste the same food
differently than if you were listening to higher pitches. To prove it, there was an experiment done
by Professor Charles Spence where he played music with higher and lower pitches while the
participants were eating the same toffee, and as a result the toffee that was eaten while higher

LINKS BETWEEN MUSIC AND FOOD

pitched music was playing tasted sweeter than the toffee being eaten with lower pitched music.
Tempo has an effect on the consumption of food according to Strobele, it was demonstrated that
listening to slow music while eating significantly increased the time spent dining, (Strobele).
Even though in general music made dinning longer, the tempo of the music had a more
significant effect on how slow or fast the ingestion of food was. A faster song will make people
eat faster while a slower one will have the opposite effect. In the studies it was explained that this
could possibly help lead to healthier eating habits, especially since obesity has had a big increase
in more recent years. Controlling for loudness of music, temperature, and lighting, it was
demonstrated that listening to slow music while eating significantly increased the time spent
dining, (Strobele). In order to understand the effects that music and food have on each other it is
important to highlight and understand the different components that might have more of an
impact than others.
Flavor intensity and texture impression were not significantly modulated by music
genre. Previous studies have shown that intensity ratings of chemosensory stimuli are
more influenced by manipulating musical components such as pitch, tempo, and loudness
than by varying hedonic tone of musical stimuli (Fiegel).
Background noise also has an effect during mealtime. In the article Effects of background
sound on consumers sensory discriminatory ability among foods, it was studied how individuals
are effected by how loud or low the music or sound in general had during meals, more
specifically certain types of foods that are usually associated with being consumed such as
breakfast, lunch, and dinner. For breakfast people tend to want for it to be quieter than for lunch
or dinner. This does not necessarily mean background music, but can also mean conversations.
Conversation during mealtime are more popular during lunch and dinner, and not so much

LINKS BETWEEN MUSIC AND FOOD

breakfast. The times of day also have to be taken into account as well as the individuals
preferences on the different times of day such as if the person is known as a morning person as
opposed to not. Gender and age have an effect on what people might prefer also, in many of the
studies presented in the articles gender, age, and time of day are the three variables that have the
most effect besides the music and the food itself. In the article Listening to music while eating is
related to increases in people's food intake and meal duration it was tested and documented by
not only the effect that music had on the taste, but how it varied, meal size in different locations,
time of the day, number of people present and whether the meal was consumed with or without
listening to music. (Strobele). These are some variables that are extremely imperative to the
understanding of how it effects meal intake, because it can help find a way to effect healthier
eating in a positive way and hopefully will have an effect on helping to decrease obesity.
Healthier eating habits is tremendously vital due to the type of society that most of the world is
heading to, which is highly industrialized causing there to be so many unhealthy choices that are
offered since it does not take that much time, as opposed to cooking a healthier meal at home.
People value time rather than watching what they eat and this has a huge impact on the society
we live in today. There are so many different variables that effect the results of music and food.
It has been said in previous studies that in order to get a more authentic taste from a
restaurant of ethnic foods, that music from the certain region is to be played. It is important to
note that it is not all music from that certain region, but the traditional music that gives that more
authentic taste or feel rather than the more modern or current music. In the article Exploring the
Effects of Music Atmospherics on Menu Item Selection, it was studied how ethnic food and
music impact each other. The results that were found did support that ethnic food and music
influence each other, but there are contradicting findings, stating that there is a significant

LINKS BETWEEN MUSIC AND FOOD

relationship between ethnic music and selecting an ethnic entre, but not necessarily an
associated ethnic entre (Fienstien). This means that yes ethnic food and music have higher
impacts when played together, but it might not be music and food from the same region. The
different types of music, lends new empirical evidence that varying musical stimuli can alter
sensory perception and acceptance of simultaneously presented foods. (Fiegel). Ethnic music
leads into different music genres. In fact, the research has demonstrated that what we hear
influences everything, from what we choose to eat to the total amount and the rate at which we
eat it, and to the perceived pleasantness, identity and flavor characteristics of the food in our
mouths. (Spence). Of course when thinking about certain types of food people might want
different types of music playing. For example people going into fast food restaurants do not
expect genres such as classical and jazz, but expect rock, pop, or more modern music. Other
studies revealed that type of music, more specifically classical and jazz music, lead to higher
spending than no music or pop music (Strobele). Classical and jazz music are going to be
associated with classier restaurants.
We highlight the influence that background music has on peoples food and drink
selections and on the rate at which they consume them, the influence of the sounds made
when we eat food on flavor perception (both those sounds made when consuming the
foods themselves and the sound of the packaging in which the food is presented), and on
how auditory stimuli can be used to enhance peoples ability to identify foods and
enhance pleasantness ratings. (Spence).
As stated there are a lot of variables that go into the relationship between music and food,
and because of that there are certain variables that have very similar results, but there are also
many differences. Our findings provide empirical evidence that background sound is not only

LINKS BETWEEN MUSIC AND FOOD

closely associated with our daily eating, but also significantly affects our food perception.
(Pellegrino). Of course since there are many different variables and many different ways that
individuals perceive in many different aspects, such as food and music, or our senses in general,
the links between music and food is a fairly new concept that is being researched and studied. If
society can take this research into account and apply it to everyday eating habits, there can be a
major change in obesity levels as well as eating patterns. Like anything in science there is always
new information that will come out in order to understand more about the effects music and food
have on each other.

LINKS BETWEEN MUSIC AND FOOD

References
Feinstein, A. H., Hinskton, T. S., & Erdem, M. (2002). Exploring the effects of music
atmospherics on menu item selection. Journal of Foodservice Business Research, 5(4), 3-23.
Fiegel, A., Meullenet, J., Harrington, R. J., Humble, R., & Seo, H. (May 2014). Background
music genre can modulate flavor pleasantness and overall impression of food stimuli. Appetite,
76, 144--152.
North, A. C. (Aug 2012). The effect of background music on the taste of wine. British Journal of
Psychology, 103(3), 293--301.
Pellegrino, R., Luckett, C. R., Shinn, S. E., Mayfield, S., Gude, K., Rhea, A., et al. (Jul 2015).
Effects of background sound on consumers' sensory discriminatory ability among foods. Food
Quality & Preference, 43, 71--78.
Spence, C., & Shankar, M. U. (2010). The influence of auditory cues on the perception of, and
response to, food and drink. Journal of Sensory Studies, 25(3), 406--430.
Strobele, N., & de Castro, J. M. (2006). Listening to music while eating is related to increases in
people's food intake and meal duration. Appetite, 47(3), 285--289.
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