SounBe, an innovative sound project tool involving sensory analysis: new possible applications in food consumption

The theme of multisensory product experience appears to be today very up-to-date in the design research, as well as in consumer science. But even if some senses such as sight and touch have been deeply examined, other senses such as hearing still represent a quite unexplored potential in the current scientific research. Nowadays it is acknowledged that product sound design should be integrated in the main design process to enhance the user experience, however this integration requires specific tools and methods. The aim of this research is to find the best response to all these needs, showing the development of SounBe® tool, an innovative patented device and method for the acoustic sensorial analysis of materials. During the research pathway, different qualitative and quantitative investigation methods typical of the sensory analyses have been adopted. The mechanical sound decomposition in three main generating variables (material, shape and gesture) and the use of SounBe® allowed to generate, compare and describe by a trained panel of tasters various possible sounds obtained by the material samples collected in MATto, the material library of Politecnico di Torino, generating a real sound database. The versatility of this approach allows applying it in several design fields starting from the most “traditional” to the most innovative ones. Right the world of food, its packaging and the consumption phase represent an interesting testing ground, starting from the studies that relate food with sound perception. Finally, designers dealing with sounding objects, packaging and, eventually, food have now available a new instrument to create new sounds or to evaluate the existing ones: thanks to SounBe® tool they will be able to gather some useful meta-project advices related to their needs. A new conscious approach to sounding objects will generate new designed soundscapes, avoiding the increasing of noise pollution and poor sounding objects.