It's crunch time: Exploring the sensibility of food textural acoustics for individuals with dysphagia.
Tasneem F Karani, Mershen Pillay
PMID 34212746WHAT IT FOUND
Experts and literature suggest the sound of chewing is a neglected part of the eating experience.
For patients with dysphagia, modifying food texture often removes these acoustic cues, potentially reducing enjoyment. The authors propose considering sound when designing safer diets.
Key findings
01Acoustic properties are frequently overlooked in dysphagia management compared to visual, olfactory, and gustatory stimuli.
02Modifying food texture for safety inevitably alters its acoustic properties, which may reduce the pleasure of eating.
03Experts identified a disconnect between the clinical focus on safety and the multisensory nature of eating, including the role of sound.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study is a conceptual exploration and scoping review, not a clinical trial, so it does not prove that adding sound improves outcomes. Only one of the 11 reviewed articles was from the field of speech and swallowing, indicating a gap in direct clinical evidence. The findings rely heavily on expert opinion and theoretical constructs rather than patient data.
Declared interests
One of the experts consulted was a co-author of the study, who provided perspective from a low-to-middle-income context. The authors acknowledge this as a potential bias but justify it within their qualitative research paradigm.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that adding sound to meals will improve swallowing safety or nutrition. This paper explores the concept of food sounds but does not test an intervention or report clinical outcomes for patients with dysphagia.