Background noise 'makes airline food taste bland'

New research has revealed that background noise could affect the taste of food on aircraft. The findings by scientists in Manchester could explain why passengers often complain that airline food tastes bland.

In the experiment, participants were fed either sweet or salty food while listening to silence or white noise on their headphones.

Scientists found that during the noise, participants rated the food less salty or sweet than during the silent periods.
Andy Woods, a researcher from Unilever's laboratories and the University of Manchester told BBC News: "There's a general opinion that aeroplane foods aren't fantastic. I'm sure airlines do their best - and given that, we wondered if there are other reasons why the food would not be so good. One thought was perhaps the background noise has some impact.
"The evidence points to this effect being down to where your attention lies - if the background noise is loud it might draw your attention to that, away from the food."
He added: "Nasa gives their space explorers very strong-tasting foods, because for some reason they can't taste food that strongly - again, perhaps it's the background noise."
The research also found that participants rated food more crunchy in noisy situations."