The influence of multisensory indoor environment on the perception of orange juice

Drinking (as well as eating) represents a fundamental multisensory experience of our lives. Recent studies have proposed the implementation of multisensory contexts to improve the taste perception of food and beverages. This topic becomes relevant when considering the possibility of promoting the consumption of healthy beverages (e.g., orange juice). Only a few studies have concentrated on the multisensory features of the indoor environment (e.g., acoustic and visual context) reporting effects on the perception of healthy beverages. This study investigates how multisensory indoor environments modify the taste perception while drinking orange juice. By controlling the room microclimate and combining the correlated colour temperature of lighting (i.e. warm and cool) and the background wall colour (i.e., red, green) in the Sens i-Lab, with different audio stimuli (i.e. low and high-frequency pure tone), participants were invited to taste the low-sugar orange juice and to rate the fruit juice aroma, sweetness, sourness, bitterness, freshness, and thickness. The results showed that listening to a high-frequency tone in an environment with warm lighting and a red background increases the sweetness perception of orange juice compared to the control environment. In addition, compared to the control condition, the juice aroma was rated more intense in almost all multisensory conditions and thicker with cool lighting and a green background while listening to a low-frequency tone. Our findings suggested that the development of multisensory design can contribute to interior design strategies and design innovation in food architecture, where people can improve their taste in healthy foods and beverages.