What sound does food make? At Trento's MUSE, an unprecedented multisensory and interactive exhibition on the topic

MUSE - Museum of Science in Trento offers from February 22, 2025 to January 11, 2026 the exhibition Food Sound - The Hidden Sound of Food, conceived and curated by Vincenzo Guarnieri with Chiara Quartero, with scientific supervision by Massimiliano Zampini - CIMEC.

How much does sound influence our food choices and the way we consume food? This is the theme of theinnovative and unprecedented exhibition at MUSE that aims to highlight the importance of the sound dimension in nutrition, from appetite stimulation to influence on purchasing decisions. Through an interactive and experiential journey, the exhibition allows visitors to discover the latest results of scientific and neuroscientific research and to better understand how sound is used in food marketing. A topic that is still little explored, and through a scientific-poetic narrative approach and the immersive use of headphone sounds, will offer a new perspective on the perception of food.

Often, when we talk about the food experience, we focus on sight, taste, touch and smell, neglecting hearing instead. Food Sound aims to reverse this perspective by investigating the crucial role of the acoustic component in our eating habits and overall psychophysical well-being. Science has shown that sound is capable of arousing deep emotions, evoking memories and influencing our relationship with food. From sounds produced during preparation and consumption to those used in advertising, the sound environment conditions the way we perceive food and our purchasing decisions. Psychology, anthropology, neuroscience and sociology are increasingly helping to clarify the link between hearing and food behavior, also providing valuable data for marketing strategies in the agribusiness sector.

The idea for the exhibition originated with Vincenzo Guarnieri and is supported by a scientific committee composed of Massimiliano Zampini, scientific officer (Centro Interdipartimentale Mente/Cervello - CIMEC - University of Trento), Louena Shtrepi (Politecnico di Torino), Luisa Torri and Riccardo Migliavada (University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo). Organizational coordination and curatorial support is provided by Chiara Quartero.

An immersive and engaging exhibition design

Wonder, surprise and participation are the key elements of the installation, which will transform the visit into amultisensory experience. The exhibition is articulated in three-dimensional spaces rich in lights, colors, shapes, shadows and iconic objects, where visitors are accompanied by physical, whispered or imagined sounds.

A central role will be played by the innovative audio system of supraGuide SPHERIC headphones, patented in 2023. In addition to the functions of a classic audio guide, these advanced devices enable them to detect the user’s position and automatically activate spatialized sound content to create a three-dimensional and highly realistic sound immersion. Thanks to their design, the headphones also allow users to perceive ambient sounds and interact with other visitors.
The path will be accessible in Italian, English, and German, with a focus on inclusivity: a tactile path will be available for people who are blind or visually impaired.

Five thematic sections to discover the sound of food

The exhibition is divided into five areas, each dedicated to a specific aspect of the relationship between sound and food:

Prologue: Introduction to the world of sounds: how they are perceived and reprocessed by our brains.

The Kitchen: A sonic journey into kitchen noises: what emotions and memories do they evoke?

The Restaurant Street: An exploration of the acoustic experience in different restaurant contexts: from the traditional trattoria to fast food, from street food to gourmet and futuristic restaurants.

The Marketplace of Illusions: An interactive experiment showing how sound influences our purchasing decisions and perception of food, testing visitors with choices based solely on listening.

Scientific Whispers: A relaxation space where visitors can sit and listen to ASMR tracks recounting neuroscientific discoveries that emerged during the exhibition.

An interactive experience and science experiment

In addition to offering a compelling sensory experience, the exhibition is intended as an opportunity for in-depth scientific investigation. Specifically, in the section The Marketplace of Illusions, visitors will be involved in a neuroscientific study that will analyze how sounds-including those generated with artificial intelligence-influence the perception of taste, temperature, weight and shapes of food. This study, conducted by the exhibition’s scientific committee, will contribute to research on the relationship between hearing and food, providing useful data to better understand the role of the sound component in our food choices.

With this exhibition, MUSE not only offers an original and immersive experience, but also contributes to the advancement of scientific knowledge by inviting the public to reflect on their relationship with food and the ways in which sounds condition our daily habits.

“The idea for this exhibition was born many years ago,” says creator Vincenzo Guarnieri, “when I listened to the story of some children visiting a French fry company. The noise of the fryers to them sounded like the cries of other children. The story really struck me and I had the intuition that sounds could be effectively employed to promote awareness about food. I went to delve into scientific literature and found that there was some extremely curious research on the role of sounds in our relationship with food. At that point, the exhibition began to take shape.”

“The Food Sound exhibition,” explains Patrizia Famà, director of the Office of Public Programs, “represents a hitherto unexplored approach in museums to raise awareness and recognition of our relationship with food through hearing, a ”forgotten“ sense of taste. If neuroscience has revolutionized our approach to many disciplines, from psychology to economics, it is no exception in the field of cooking and food. Thanks to this kind of research and increasingly sophisticated tools introduced to weigh the relationship between sound and food in our perceptions and food choices, the Food Sound exhibition brings to the attention of the general public a new exhibition project with an immersive sound and absolute design pathway to offer a greater awareness of how the brain, through sound, perceives and responds to food stimuli.”

What sound does food make? At Trento's MUSE, an unprecedented multisensory and interactive exhibition on the topic

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