The piece details the work of Charles Spence, a professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University who has conducted studies showing that people's perceptions of flavor and taste are influenced by how food looks — and even how it sounds.
For the Pringles experiment, Spence had 20 participants eat chips while wearing headphones. He flooded their ears with crunching sounds at different volume levels and frequencies. Although the chips were all identical, those eating while listening to louder, high-pitched crunches actually perceived their chips as fresher and crisper. [...]
This line of research has many public health implications, as you can imagine. It suggests that environments carefully designed for health — from the colors and size of our food packaging to the sounds we listen to while eating — can nudge people in the direction of healthier behaviors.
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