Table 2 Summary of the results of those studies that have investigated the impact of noise on taste/flavour perception
From: Noise and its impact on the perception of food and drink
Study | Noise presentation | Number of participants | Noise level (and type) | Foodstuff | Method | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pettit [20] | External | 84 | 80 ± 5 dB (restaurant noise) | Tomato juice | Preference judgments amongst three juice samples | No effect of noise on preference judgments |
McFadden et al. [19] | Headphones | 4 | 70Â dB (narrowband noise) | Sweet and salty solutions | Threshold psychophysics | No effect of noise on threshold or suprathreshold intensity judgments |
6 | Magnitude estimation | |||||
Christensen and Vickers [18] | Headphones | 16 | 100Â dB (radio static) | 16 wet and dry foods | Magnitude estimation | No significant effect of noise |
Viscous liquids | Magnitude estimation | No effect of noise | ||||
Ferber and Cabanac [35] | Headphones | 10 | 70/90Â dB (noise) | Sweet and salty solutions | Magnitude estimation | Significant effect of loud noise and music on hedonic responses to sweet (but not salty) solutions |
90Â dB (music) | ||||||
Masuda et al. [50] | Headphones | 7 | 82Â dB (noise) | Moist and dry pretzels | Two-alternative forced choice | Significant effect on ratings of moist (but not dry) pretzels |
Woods et al. [21] | Headphones | 48 | 75–85 dB (noise) | Pringles/cheese | LMS | Sweetness & saltiness ratings significant |
45–55 dB (noise) | Biscuit/flapjack | LMS | Lower with loud noise, liking ratings not significant | |||
Woods et al. [21] | Headphones | 34 | 75–85 dB (noise) | Flavoured rice cakes | LMS | Crunchiness ratings higher with loud noise |
|  |  |  | 45–55 dB (noise) | Flavour and liking ratings not significant | ||
Seo et al. [55] | Headphones | 38 | 70/82 dB (verbal or party noise) | Odorants | Triangle test | Verbal noise > effect than party noise > quiet; odour discrimination worse |
Stafford et al. [12] | Headphones | 80 | Noise | Alcoholic drinks | Visual analogue scales | Alcoholic beverages rated significantly sweeter |
Noise and shadowing | Alcoholic drinks | Visual analogue scales | Worse discrimination of alcohol content | |||
Seo et al. [56] | Headphones | 39 | Verbal noise | Odorants | Triangle test | Introverts’ performance significantly worse, extroverts’ performance significantly better |