Soundscapes as Sonic Seasoning of Chocolate: Effects on Taste Perception, Affect, and Liking

This study examines how auditory contexts, or soundscapes, shape chocolate taste perception, affective response, hedonic liking, and the extent to which emotion mediates these effects. Using a within-subjects design with 120 participants aged 18-25 years, four auditory conditions were compared: silence, natural soundscape, relatively low-pitched soundscape, and relatively high-pitched soundscape. Participants evaluated perceived bitterness, sweetness, acidity, emotional valence, arousal, and overall liking after tasting the same 65% dark chocolate under each auditory condition. The results showed that auditory context significantly modulated taste perception, affective response, and liking. The natural soundscape produced the most favorable profile, increasing liking and emotional valence while reducing arousal. In contrast, the relatively high-pitched condition increased arousal and enhanced perceived acidity (Δ ≈ 6.77 VAS points). Effect sizes indicated stronger effects on arousal (partial η² ≈ 0.46), liking (partial η² ≈ 0.29), acidity (partial η² ≈ 0.28), and valence (partial η² ≈ 0.26) than on sweetness perception (partial η² ≈ 0.05). Mediation analysis showed that emotional valence partially explained the relationship between the natural soundscape and liking, whereas arousal did not play a significant mediating role. These findings suggest that auditory environments influence chocolate evaluation through both affective and crossmodal pathways. Overall, the study provides controlled evidence that sound can function as a relevant contextual variable in multisensory chocolate-tasting experiences, with implications for sensory evaluation, gastronomy, and experience design.