Morning Buzz: Loud music makes you drink more?

WebMD.com reports a French study shows that raising the volume of music can speed up the drinking at a bar. The researchers found that loud music went hand in hand with increased alcohol consumption in a shorter period of time. The article quotes Nicolas Gueguen, a professor of behavioral studies and one of the researchers, "Previous research had shown that fast music can cause fast drinking, and that music versus no music can cause a person to spend more time in a bar. This is the first time that an experimental approach in a real context found the effects of loud music on alcohol consumption... We need to encourage bar owners to play music at more of a moderate level ... and make consumers aware that loud music can influence their alcohol consumption."

Researchers give two explanations for their findings.
"One, in agreement with previous research on music, food, and drink, high sound levels may have caused higher arousal, which led the subjects to drink faster and to order more drinks," Gueguen says. "Two, loud music may have had a negative effect on social interaction in the bar, so that patrons drank more because they talked less."

What do you think about these findings?

Posted by on 07/28 at 03:11 AM

I think they need to go back and study some more on this subject..

“Volume” would be just one variable in this equation..I believe that “comfort” plays more of a role than volume..

I’ll use Jody Barr as an example…mainly because in a whole world full of dwarves..only seven of them ever really got recognition..

You place Jody in a bar with the theme song from “Smokey and the Bandit” playing and by the end of that song..that lil fella will have to dial the operator and have her trace the call and tell him where the hell he is at..Man he’d be wasted..

Now place him in a bar and play Barry Manilow tunes…and even if he did slit his wrists..at the autopsy..it would be determined that he was sober at the time of death..

As you can see..volume plays an insignificant role in all of this…;)

Posted by  on  07/28  at  05:07 AM

Hum….  I find this to be very interesting Lyra.  I find it interesting because I remember years ago when I was a teenager there was a study done that said heavy metal/rock music made people drive faster, especially teenagers.  In my personal experience, I found the study to be wrong.  I can remember driving down the road listening to Marilyn Manson and stay under the speed limit.  I also remember driving while listening to Jewel, I believe it was “Who will save your soul,“ and because I got into the song I discovered I was driving 15 miles over the speed limit.  I actually think about that study a lot and how I thought it was such BS. 

I don’t think it really matters how loud the music is or the genre that effects how a person drives or drinks.  I believe it depends on what you are able to get into.  If I go to a bar and the music is loud and it’s a genre I hate, it makes me want to leave the bar not stay longer and drink.

Posted by Ashlee Buckner  on  07/28  at  04:16 PM

Does one size really fit all? I wonder how many tax $ were spent to come up with this totally useless information. At least this time it was French money for a change. What really matters is hearing loss.

Posted by  on  07/29  at  11:06 AM

Page 1 of 1 pages

Log In | Register as a new member