Influence of noise on gustatory affective ratings and preference for sweet or salt.

Ten adult men were exposed to four different conditions of noise--low noise (70 dB), loud noise (90 dB), loud music (90 dB) and a silence control--while they tasted sweet or salty solutions. In the first experiment, they rated the pleasure/displeasure aroused by ten gustatory stimuli (five sucrose and five sodium chloride from 0.15 to 2.35 M/l). The median affective rating for sucrose was significantly higher in loud noise and with loud music. No change was observed for salt. In the second experiment, the subjects were invited to mix solutions in order to obtain the most pleasant concentration of sucrose or sodium chloride. Subjects' preferred concentrations of sucrose or sodium chloride did not vary with auditory conditions.