Background Noise Affects Taste of Foods 79
gollum123 writes "The level of background noise affects both the intensity of flavour and the perceived crunchiness of foods, researchers have found. Blindfolded diners assessed the sweetness, saltiness, and crunchiness, as well as overall flavour, of foods as they were played white noise. While louder noise reduced the reported sweetness or saltiness, it increased the measure of crunch. It may go some way to explaining why airline food is notoriously bland — a phenomenon that drives airline catering companies to season their foods heavily. In a comparatively small study, 48 participants were fed sweet foods such as biscuits or salty ones such as crisps, while listening to silence or noise through headphones. Also in the group's findings there is the suggestion that the overall satisfaction with the food aligned with the degree to which diners liked what they were hearing — a finding the researchers are pursuing in further experiments."
Synesthesia (Score:4, Insightful)
This sounds like a specific case of Synesthesia [wikipedia.org], with sound and taste interacting, rather than the more often cited case of sound and colour perception.
Airline food is bland because... (Score:5, Insightful)
Airline food is bland because it is pre-packaged long life shit and instant tv dinners produced in a tiny galley on a budget. Blaming the background noise is ridiculous. It's a "dog ate my homework" excuse.