10/07/2025
Did You Know 🤔 - some HEARING FOOD FOR THOUGHT on this Thursday evening...
Hearing plays a surprisingly powerful role in sensory eating (pleasurable, enjoyable eating), and when it's fully engaged, it can elevate the entire eating experience in subtle but significant ways.
Here’s how 👇🏼👇🏼(be sure to read the bit of article attached, too, for some helpful tips and tricks - a brilliant read!)
🔊 1. Sound Enhances Flavor Perception
The crunch of a chip. The crisp snap of fresh vegetables or a perfectly seared crust triggers satisfaction. Research shows we actually perceive food as fresher or tastier when it sounds “right.”
If you can’t hear these textures clearly (due to hearing loss), you might miss the sensory reward—making eating less enjoyable or fulfilling.
👂 2. Hearing Increases Mindful Eating
Sound draws attention to each bite. When you can hear your chewing, the sizzle, the slurp, or even the background clink of silverware, you're more present with your food.
This presence fosters mindful eating—a slower, more intentional pace that improves digestion, satisfaction, and overall experience.
👥 3. Social Eating = Better Digestion + Joy
Conversation during meals stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system—the “rest and digest” mode.
If hearing loss makes conversation exhausting, people often withdraw from social meals, which can lead to eating faster, less or feeling disconnected.
🎶 4. Ambient Sound Sets the Mood
The music at a dinner party, the hum of a bustling café, or the quiet calm of a candlelit meal—all influence how food tastes and feels - its been scientifically proven in a study called "gastrophysics" - spearheaded by Professor Charles Spence at Oxford University.
Good hearing enhances how we interpret these environments, impacting how comforting, exciting, or luxurious a meal feels.
🧠 5. The Brain Needs Harmony
Eating is a multi-sensory experience—taste, touch, sight, smell, and sound all work together.
When one sense like hearing is diminished, the brain receives less stimulation, which may dull the overall pleasure of eating.
So basically, when we hear clearly, we savor more deeply. Hearing supports texture perception, presence, emotional connection, and even brain engagement during meals. Improving hearing—whether through hearing aids or cognitive awareness—can literally make food taste better, conversation flow easier, and memories form stronger.
💙🦻🏼🤌🏼
