Soundscapes and Eating

Peng-Li and colleagues report that “Soft nature sounds [ocean waves] and loud restaurant noises [chattering and tableware noises] were employed to induce emotional relaxation and arousal respectively. One hundred and one healthy university students completed a repeated-measure design of the LFPQ [Leeds Food Preference Questionnaire]; once with each soundscape playing in the background. . . . nature sounds increased explicit liking of healthy (vs. unhealthy) foods, while no effect of soundscape on any wanting measures (explicit or implicit) were observed. . . . restaurant noise (vs. nature sound) induced faster response times for both healthy and unhealthy foods.”

Danni Peng-Li, Tiark Andersen, Graham Finlayson, Derek Byrne, and Qian Wang.  2022. “The Impact of Environmental Sounds on Food Reward.”  Physiology and Behavior, vol. 245, 113689, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2021.113689