Crossmodal Harmony: Looking for the Meaning of Harmony Beyond Hearing

Abstract

The notion of harmony was first developed in the context of metaphysics before being applied to the domain of music. However, in recent centuries, the term has often been used to describe especially pleasing combinations of colors by those working in the visual arts too. Similarly, the harmonization of flavors is nowadays often invoked as one of the guiding principles underpinning the deliberate pairing of food and drink. However, beyond the various uses of the term to describe and construct pleasurable unisensory perceptual experiences, it has also been suggested that music and painting may be combined harmoniously (e.g., see the literature on “color music”). Furthermore, those working in the area of “sonic seasoning” sometimes describe certain sonic compositions as harmonizing crossmodally with specific flavor sensations. In this review, we take a critical look at the putative meaning(s) of the term “harmony” when used in a crossmodal, or multisensory, context. Furthermore, we address the question of whether the term's use outside of a strictly unimodal auditory context should be considered literally or merely metaphorically (i.e., as a shorthand to describe those combinations of sensory stimuli that, for whatever reason, appear to go well together, and hence which can be processed especially fluently).

Color‐nutrient associations: Implications for product design of dietary supplements

“…Moreover, although many dietary supplements contain an individual nutrient, some include multiple nutrients (e.g., vitamin C and Calcium). The color design of these supplements might be possible through certain combinations of colors (see Spence & Di Stefano, 2022). For example, the design of dietary supplements containing both vitamin C and Calcium appear to be well‐matched with the combination of orange and white colors.…”

Visualise the tastes from the label: A study on the taste-colour crossmodal association of crisp and dry

“…This implies that hue might not be the best way to visually distinguish some of the tastes. Inspired by a recent review in crossmodal harmony from Spence and Di Stefano ( 2022b ), the hue angle range of perceived colour for the crisp and dry might not only reflect the colour of the related subjects, but the colour to promote harmony with the tastes. Also, crisp and dry are not two isolated flavours in craft beer.…”

Coloured hearing, colour music, colour organs, and the search for perceptually meaningful correspondences between colour and sound

“…Inspired by Newton’s Opticks, first published in 1704, the English chemist Field (1835) conceived colour painting based on musical criteria, leading to the definition of the general mapping between sound and colour. The systematic use of musical notions for describing the harmony of colours likely makes Field’s system the most rigorous and musically informed attempt to achieve a general theory of harmony which applies equally to music and sounds (see Figure 2; see also Spence & Di Stefano, 2022). Johannes Wolfgang von Goethe (Goethe, 1840, c. 201-202, para.…”

“…The psychological affinity between simple auditory and visual stimuli can be further sub-divided into at least two distinct categories, namely perceptual and affective similarity (the latter, possibly linking to Kandinsky’s, 1977, notion, of ‘inner harmony’; see Spence & Di Stefano, 2022). While interest in the crossmodal correspondences between sound and colour initially appears to have been motivated by intuitions based around the structural and physical similarity (these so-called analogical mappings) between the two senses, the absence of any obvious phenomenological sense of perceptual similarity has led to the emergence of emotional mediation as a likely ‘glue’ linking (if not necessarily binding) the stimuli presented in this particular pair of sensory modalities.…”