Influence of Background Music With and Without Vocals on the Sensory Perception and Acceptability of Cachaça

The sensory experience of food and beverages is inherently multisensory, with auditory cues playing an important role in shaping perception and hedonic responses. This study investigated the influence of background music, with and without vocals, on the sensory perception and acceptability of cachaça. Two independent but methodologically equivalent experiments were conducted with 200 cachaça young consumers, divided into two groups ( n = 100 each): one evaluated the beverage under musical stimuli with vocals (WV), and the other under instrumental versions of the same music without vocals (NV). Four musical genres (sertanejo, pagode, funk, and pop) and a silence condition were tested. Sensory perception was assessed using the Rate‐all‐that‐Apply method, while acceptability of both the beverage and the music was evaluated using a nine‐point hedonic scale. Results showed that background music modulated the sensory perception and acceptability of cachaça in a manner dependent on the presence of vocals. In the WV condition, significant differences were observed for specific sensory attributes, such as banana, balanced, spices, pepper, and aftertaste, whereas in the NV condition significant differences were detected only for banana and spices. Multivariate analyses revealed a clearer structuring of sensory perception when music contained vocals, indicating a more integrated and contextual evaluation of the beverage. In addition, cachaça acceptability differed significantly among musical genres only in the WV and NV experiment, with pagode leading to the highest hedonic scores. A strong positive correlation between music liking and beverage liking was observed in both the WV and NV conditions, indicating that higher appreciation of the musical stimulus was consistently associated with greater acceptance of the cachaça. These findings demonstrate that background music, particularly the presence of vocals, acts as a contextual modulator of both sensory perception and hedonic evaluation of cachaça. The study advances the understanding of auditory–gustatory interactions in distilled spirits and provides relevant insights for sensory research and the design of soundscapes in consumption environments.