Commercializing Sonic Seasoning in Multisensory Offline Experiential Events and Online Tasting Experiences

Abstract

The term "sonic seasoning" refers to the deliberate pairing of sound/music with taste/flavour in order to enhance, or modify, the multisensory tasting experience. Although the recognition that people experience a multitude of crossmodal correspondences between stimuli in the auditory and chemical senses originally emerged from the psychophysics laboratory, the last decade has seen an explosion of interest in the use and application of sonic seasoning research findings, in a range of multisensory experiential events and online offerings. These marketing-led activations have included a variety of different approaches, from curating pre-composed music selections that have the appropriate sonic qualities (such as pitch or timbre), to the composition of bespoke music/soundscapes that match the specific taste/flavour of particular food or beverage products. Moreover, given that our experience of flavour often changes over time and frequently contains multiple distinct elements, there is also scope to more closely match the sonic seasoning to the temporal evolution of the various components (or notes) of the flavour experience. We review a number of case studies of the use of sonic seasoning, highlighting some of the challenges and opportunities associated with the various approaches, and consider the intriguing interplay between physical and digital (online) experiences. Taken together, the various examples reviewed here help to illustrate the growing commercial relevance of sonic seasoning research.

Keywords: crossmodal correspondences; crossmodal pairing; multisensory experience design; online multisensory tasting; playlist curation; sensory marketing; sonic seasoning.

FIGURE 1

(A) Temporal characteristics of taste experiences showing the intensity (thickness of the lines), the movement (frequency of the lines) and the length of the taste experience; (B) Affective characteristics of taste experiences (green = pleasant, red = unpleasant, orange = neutral, white = absence of taste). Note that umami was rated as both pleasant and unpleasant; (C) All taste characteristics combined: the temporality shown through the length of the schematic; affective reactions through the color (green pleasant, red unpleasant, orange neutral experience); and the embodiment through its form (mouth feeling). [From Obrist et al. (2014), Figures 2, 3, 5].

FIGURE 2

A mouthful of Manos Negras Pinot Noir 2014 held in the mouth for a period of 45 s. Note that the horizontal dashed lines indicate chance level responding (given the eight possible descriptions) and a significant response across the group of participants whenever the time series exceed a dominance ration of 0.25. [From Wang et al. (2019b)].

FIGURE 3

Mean values of time intensity (TI) values of sourness rating over time. The dotted line is shown at the 15-s mark, where the soundtrack changed from “sour” to “sweet.” [From Wang Q. J. et al. (2017)].

FIGURE 4

TDS assessment of a piece of chocolate as it melts over the tongue over the course of a minute. [Research conducted by Wang and Spence on behalf of Godiva chocolates].

FIGURE 5

“Sonic doggy bags” delivered to patrons following their multisensory dinner. The cards in the bag contained a URL where diners could download an album of crossmodally congruent soundscapes created on the premises during the meal by a “sonic chef”.

FIGURE 6

Korean coffee-shop where music is paired with the choice of coffee designed to match the customer’s taste preferences.