Crossmodal perception

Crossmodal perception is when senses interact in sometimes surprising ways. Some fun examples:

• Coffee tastes better when you don’t have a loud coffee machine near you, and it also tastes more intense and less sweet if the mug is white.
• In the atmosphere of a pressurised cabin when flying, with decreased humidity and air pressure and significant background noise, things taste less sweet or salty.
• If you can’t hear the crunch of, say, a Pringles potato chip, then it tastes less fresh.

You might enjoy Nicola Twilley’s super New Yorker article, The Illusion of Taste , which has more of the science and plenty more examples.