Shutterstock
I’ve thought a lot about what my personalized version of hell would be, and both of them involve obnoxiously loud music. The first is being permanently trapped in a subway car filled with theater majors singing a medley of songs from Disney movies. The second is sitting at a bar sipping a (presumably non-alcoholic) beer talking to someone about how hot it always is when all of a sudden a Jimmy Buffet cover band starts playing music at a level that makes it impossible to have a conversation.
While I’ve been lucky enough to only experience that first version on a couple of occasions, I’ve found myself sitting in a drinking establishment featuring music playing at uncomfortable levels more times than I can count. I’ve made it my mission in life to avoid clubs as much as possible, but that still hasn’t stopped me from repeatedly having my eardrums assaulted while trying to get my drink on.
I’ve never understood why places that mostly exist to give people an excuse to not drink by themselves would make it so hard to have a conversation, but it turns out there’s a scientific explanation. A study conducted in France proved that the louder the music is, the more people will drink
Digital Music News provided a brief recap of the study’s methodology and its results:
The study involved 40 unsuspecting male beer drinkers, with volumes routinely altered. There were two decibel levels: 72 dB for a more normal volume, and 88 dB for a loud testing volume.
In total, the research group observed a 31% increase in total beer consumption when the louder music was playing. Specifically, the average patron consumed 2.6 beers per visit while the music volume was normal, and 3.4 beers when it was louder.
But it turns out that people also drink faster when the music is louder.
Specifically, patrons took 14.5 minutes to finish a cold one when the volume was normal, but just 11.5 minutes at the higher volume.
The survey was conducted nearly a decade ago, but this is the first time I encountered its results and I figured I’d pass them along to make everyone know that we’re all being exploited. Stay woke.