Eating is not just about the food on our plate but what’s happening around us, including sound.

You might not think much of the background music when you go to a restaurant or eat at home, but the music you put on could be doing more than just filling the silence.

Acoustic elements like the song’s pace shape our eating pace, our mood, and eventually our health. Music changes how long it takes you to eat and even how fast you chew during meals.

Not convinced? Look at the research.

Tempo at the table

Researchers from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy wanted to see how the speed of the background music could manipulate both our pace of eating and our emotional reactions during meals.

124 people listened to electronic music tracks adjusted to different tempos on their headphones. Scientists used various subgenres of electronic music to ensure a diverse auditory experience and keep the listening enjoyable.

Everyone ate focaccia, a simple Italian bread perfect for testing because it always tastes and feels the same. Each participant had the same quantity and quality of food.

The scientists recorded everything: how many bites, how long each chew lasted, and even the leftover crumbs.

What they found is quite revealing:

• Participants eating with slower jams (85BPM) took their sweet time eating. They ate slower, spent more time eating, chewed their food more thoroughly, and reported feeling more relaxed and peaceful.

Think about a slow-paced movie. You take your time to look at the actor’s facial expressions, enjoy the scenery, and overall make you more reflective. The same happens with listening to slow-paced music.

• The fast-tempo group (145BPM) gobbled their food quicker and felt more energetic and possibly a bit more stressed.

Although the study hints at gender differences, they didn’t detail them in depth. However, the academic literature says that:

• Women tend to relax more and enjoy their meals longer when the music is slower, which also helps them digest better.

• Men react more to faster tempos with increased energy, possibly leading them to eat quickly. This impacts their digestion and satiety differently compared to women. Also, they seem to get more distracted by background music than women.

So it’s not just about the emotional reactions but the health outcomes that come with it. Slow eaters tend to digest better and might even dodge the calorie overload that quicker eaters are less likely to avoid.

The flavor feels different

It’s not just about how we act around food, but also about changing how people perceive taste.

Take the following study at the University of Manchester. Researchers wanted to learn if background noise could influence our perception of food flavors, specifically saltiness and sweetness.

In other words, can loud environments dull or boost our sense of taste?

Scientists rounded up 48 students and had them munch on various snacks (crunchy and soft, salty and sweet ) under different sound conditions: no noise, moderate noise (45–55dB), and loud noise (75–85dB). They ate Pringles, mini cheese, flapjacks, biscuits, and crackers. Participants had to rate the intensity of flavors and how much they liked them under these different acoustic conditions.

The results were fascinating.

• The louder noise setting dampened the intensity of food, especially sweetness ratings dropping by 3 points and salty by 1.6 points compared to the quieter setting.

• The noisier environment dampened the crunchiness and softness of the food. Both types of food felt less intense.

• Even though food seemed less tasty in loud environments, this didn’t necessarily mean people liked it less, statistically speaking.

All this means that a noisy environment makes food boring. Your chips might seem less salty, your chips less crunchy, and your cake less sweet. Now you know why if the food doesn’t seem quite right. It might be because of the noise.

But it won’t necessarily make you like the food less, just less appealing.

What this means for…

Restaurants

Imagine being seated and presented not just with a food menu but a music menu. If you don’t want to overeat you’ll scan the QR code for a slower beat and experience more mindful eating.

One more step towards a healthier eating habit brought to you by music playlists.

What about adding a sound layer to the gastronomic design?

Another wild idea is to have chefs and food scientists collaborating with sound engineers to create holistic eating experiences that tackle our palate from different angles (e.g. sound-induced taste perception).

I’ve written about it extensively in my book if you want to learn more about it.

Diets

For anyone looking to manage their diet more effectively, you’ll use the song’s BPM as part of your strategy. Your home meals will have a tempo trainer slowing down your snack attacks and enhancing satiety.

There’s an emotional component to eating as well.

People eat to cope with stress or fill emotional gaps. Thus, better-designed meals could help manage stress and promote overall well-being.

Now take it a step further into public health.

With obesity rates skyrocketing, what about including sound advice (literally)? Schools, workplaces, and public food courts might explore integrating slower music into dining areas to reduce your need for higher food intake. Is it too much to ask?

For you! How to choose the best music while you eat

Next time you eat, notice how background noise and tempo might change how you perceive your meal.

Sound subconsciously changes our taste experience, so what can you do about it?

1. Use a slower tempo for a relaxed dining experience: songs slower than 85 beats per minute (BPM) encourage slower eating and more thorough chewing, which also helps with digestion. If you enjoy classical music, look for terms like Adagio, Largo, and Grave, which indicate slower tempos similar to songs under 85 BPM.

Here’s a more comprehensive list of tempo markings.

2. Use faster music for energetic vibes: if you’re short on time and you need your family/partner/friend to finish their meal faster, put faster-paced music (around 145 BPM or a Vivace or higher). This will energize the environment and persuade them to shift to a higher gear while eating.

3. Use sound-absorbing decor: filling the space where you eat with carpets, curtains, and cushioned furniture (and acoustic panels for the geeks) helps absorb excessive noise and creates a more pleasant dining atmosphere. Since loud noise dampens the perception of sweetness and saltiness, changing your acoustic environment will allow you to fully experience your food's flavors.

Also, hard surfaces can amplify sounds, while softer surfaces can help dampen them. Minimize noise pollution without making the space too quiet and awkward.

4. Mask outdoor sounds with natural sounds: if you can’t change your surroundings, fight unwanted noise with soothing sounds like a gentle waterfall or fountain.

If you’re in a noisy environment and can’t change it, put on noise-canceling headphones and listen to soothing sounds from nature.

The key is balance. The right tempo and volume of your music can create the desired atmosphere without overshadowing the food itself.

Be mindful of your acoustic surroundings

Sound is invisible, yet it surrounds us. If you’re not careful, it can ruin your meal without you even realizing how it happened.

Here’s a brief list of things you should consider to improve your dining experience.

• Feel the pace: pay attention to the speed of the background music. If it’s fast and upbeat, you might eat faster without realizing it.

• Slow down: a place with slower, more soothing music, can be taken as a cue to relax and take your time eating. Use it to your advantage!

• Check the volume: if you’re in a place where you have to shout over the music, you know you won’t be able to fully enjoy your meal. If you can’t change the volume, at least ask for a more soothing music genre like jazz or classical music.

• Pick a good table: when you go to a restaurant, try to choose a table away from the loudspeakers or high-traffic areas like the kitchen or main entrance. A quieter spot makes all the difference.

Choose places where the music and noise feel right to you, don’t be shy about it, and search until you find what feels good.

So what’s playing on your speakers?

There’s more to food than meets our taste buds.

When we don’t know how other senses affect our eating experience, it can either ruin or elevate our meal. But what if we could increase the likelihood of having a good meal by using the right playlist? And make it healthier too.

Next time, don’t just ask for the chef’s specials but the DJ’s too.

If you enjoyed reading this article, consider chipping in a few bucks to support my work. It takes a ton of time and effort to research and write these pieces, and your donation would mean the world to me!

Donate here