Sonic Frequencies and Food Perception: How High- and Low-Frequency Sonic Logos Shape Expectations of Satiability and Goal Alignment

Overconsumption is a leading factor behind the rising incidence of obesity worldwide. As consumers struggle to understand the true caloric and nutritional value of the foods they consume in an increasingly cluttered marketplace, food manufacturers are being tasked with finding more effective ways of communicating nutritional facts. We thus examined the impact of sonic logos (sogos) on the perception of food satiability and purchase intention. Study 1 demonstrates that consumers perceive foods that are presented with high-frequency (vs. low-frequency) sogos as lighter (vs. heavier) and subsequently less (vs. more) filling (while ruling out the role of hunger and time since the last food intake). Study 2 reveals that when consumers regard health (vs. satiety) as important, high (vs. low) frequency sogos induce higher purchase intention due to the perceived congruency between the sogo frequency and consumption goal. Our findings add to the literature on food and multisensory marketing by demonstrating that low-frequency sogos can connote food satiability through the underlying mechanism of the shared semantic meaning of heaviness between a low-frequency sound and satiable foods. These insights can assist brands in strategically designing their sound signatures to promote food satiability.