Discovery that speaks the language of food
9 Feb 2006 by Evoluted New Media
We all like a biscuit of two with our tea, but did you know that you use your ears along with your mouth to sense how good that teatime hobnob is?
We all like a biscuit of two with our tea, but did you know that you use your ears along with your mouth to sense how good that teatime hobnob is?
A discovery by scientists at Leeds University has shown that the energy produced by the crack of a biscuit is released as a massive burst of ultrasound that can be analysed by our ears, even though we can’t actually hear it.
Professor Povey has another crack at biscuit testing
Food physicist Professor Malcolm Povey explained: “Food is, in effect, talking to us and we innately understand what it’s saying about texture by interpreting the sensations through our ears and mouths. Our research shows that the sound and feel of food in the mouth is as important as taste, look and smell in deciding whether we like something or not.”
The team managed to record the pulses – which only last for milliseconds – and realised that each pulse is associated with a crack in the food. Professor Povey told Laboratory News: “We can count the rate of the pulses and have found a high correlation between the number of pulses and the crunchiness of the food.”
The discovery is expected to be of great interest to food manufacturers, who until now have relied upon an army of specially trained tasters to find the perfect crunch for their food. However, Professor Povey hopes that the technology can also be applied to materials testing.
“We think we have found a good non-invasive technique to test many materials,” he told Laboratory News, adding: “It’s essentially a modern version of wheel tapping, but just using energy that is not just confined to the audible range.”
