Hiroshi Bando1,2*
1Tokushima University / Medical Research, Japan
2Integrative Medicine Japan (IMJ), Shikoku Island division, Japan
*Corresponding author: Hiroshi Bando, Tokushima University / Medical Research, Integrative Medicine Japan (IMJ), Shikoku Island division, director, Tokushima, Japan
Submission: August 24, 2021;Published: September 07, 2021
Volume2 Issue5September, 2021
Integrative Medicine (IM) has been evaluated more for long, authors have managed Shikoku Island Division, Integrative Medicine Japan (IMJ). IM includes music therapy, which can conduct to decrease stressful matter and increase human well-being, associated with special condition such as smell, flavor and tasting. It means cross modality of human sensation, leading to sonic seasoning. Some examples include sweet drinks, chocolate, seafood restaurant, coffee, and so on. Related with crossmodal pairing, sonic seasoning will be more required for academic and commercial fields. The perspectives for music and nutrition in IM region will be expected to develop in the future.
Keywords: Integrative medicine (IM); Integrative Medicine Japan (IMJ); Music therapy; Cross modality; Sonic seasoning; Crossmodal pairing
Integrative medicine (IM) has been developed for decades across the world. It involves
complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as well as usual Western Medicine (WM)
[1]. IM can cover wide range of medicine, which means patient-oriented medicine from biopsycho-
social points of view. Authors have managed various activities of IM, music therapy
and nutritional therapy for Shikoku Island Division, Integrative Medicine Japan (IMJ) for long
[2]. Along our practice and research, the relationship of music and food has been important.
In other words, the perspectives of our sensation such as auditory, smelling and flavor would
be described in this article.
IM can have broad related fields of medicine, health, music, nutrition and technology. For
these research, significant interactions have found in various axes. Especially, the fields of
music therapy, music information, medical technology have been observed for meaningful
discussion [3]. Music therapy has been accepted for many people and developed for the need
for medical circumstance. Two aspects have been present for listening and recognizing music.
The former is the psychological and psychiatric effect of adapting music, where everyone can
feel and tune the musical rhythm. The latter is the auditory effect of analyzing music sound
in the air, where everyone can hear it through electric signal from ear to brain [4]. From biopsycho-
social points of view, we have our human society around us. Adequate adaptation of
this activity to our life will bring medical and cultural evolution of music. Furthermore, it will
make bring the diversity of music forms and human life across the world.
Music therapy has been recognized as most acceptable treatment in the area of
psychotherapy in IM. For assessment of the influence of stress, to evaluate clinical effect of
therapeutic intervention of music would be required [5]. Studies on the relationship of music
listening and psychological stress-related outcomes were found [6]. The protocol included
47 studies, 2,747 subjects and 76 effect sizes. The results showed moderate effect on stress- related outcomes associated with p<0.001 and mean effect size
and d=0.723. Research has continued for giving calmness and
relaxation by music [3]. Then, the interventions of music therapy
were conducted to decrease stressful matter and increase human
well-being, associated with special condition such as smell, flavor
and tasting [7].
Human being has some senses, such as seeing, hearing and
tasting. Recent research has been in focus for various combinations
of modality. In cognitive science and psychology, the phenomenon
where some perceptions are influenced each other has been
called cross modality [8]. For example, a drink containing a redcolored
sweetener may be associated with a strawberry flavor. A
similar phenomenon is synesthesia, which causes not only normal
sensations but also different types of sensations for a stimulus [9].
For cross modality of auditory and tasting, we can have various
experience of mutual influences in our daily lives [8]. In other
words, an experience may be present for simultaneous tasting a
musical piece and the flavor food. A variety of food include coffee,
chocolate, whiskey, wine, cognac and so on [10]. There are various
related factors which are involved in the situation, such as time
place, occasion, color, shape, mood, texture stimulus and others.
Formerly, two modalities of listening and tasting were considered
to be unrelated. As a matter of fact, however, they have mutual
interaction each other. The relationship of perceptual research has
been observed as “sonic seasoning” [11].
The cross-modal reaction is shared by the majority of people
[12]. There is now widespread evidence that background music
may give some bias of food choices in many places. People cannot be
aware of this phenomenon [13]. When people estimate the tasting
experience for certain food or treat, various bias may be involved in
this appreciation [14]. The more one like the music, the more one
will evaluate the tasting experience fantastic [15]. Emotions play a
strong role, especially when it is related to cross-modal mapping or
pairing of flavorful stimuli [16].
In the field of medicine, historical episode of reflexes of Pavlov’s
dog has been widely known, which is a one-to-one correspondence
[17]. On the other hand, with cross modality, auditory stimuli do
not always produce a constant response. Pairs of stimuli presented
with different sensory modality can be associated. There are
unpredictable new reactions from the medical, cultural and
individual personal axes.
An example will be presented for cross modality. There is a Fat
Duck restaurant in UK [18]. Before starting the dish “Sound of the
sea”, inserting a pair of earbuds would be encouraged. The visitors
can listen to the sound of waves and seagulls on the beach. This
is the representative dish for long. By the comparative research,
the combination of music and tasting can bring significantly better
evaluation. They do not feel salty taste than listening to another
soundscape [19].
Another example is coffee shop case. A wireless headphones are
provided simultaneously when a cup of coffee is served. The crucial
matter is to give a multisensory experience of tasting and listening
[20]. Another café serves an augmented glassware with less sugar,
where the guest can keep seating for long time with listening sweet
music in the room [21]. Thus, the pairing music and flavor will be
developed for continuing experiential opportunities and apps.
The impressive situation is found in the case of chocolate. When
BGM shows positive merrily mood rather than negative grave mood,
people feel sweeter and purchase more. Music texture may change
human feeling, leading to positive behavioral activity. Thus, efficacy
triggered by emotional music may be more prominent than those
by cross modally-related music. Related with crossmodal pairing,
sonic seasoning will be more known for casual circumstances and
be more required for academic and commercial fields [22]. We can
expect that many artists, food designers and medical personnel will
develop the perspectives for music and nutrition in IM region in the
future [23].
© 2021 Hiroshi Bando. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially.