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Bartender Can You Turn That $#*!@ Thing Down!

The presence or absence of music in a bar setting, its fast or slow tempo, and style have all been found to influence the level of alcohol consumption. However, the effect of sound levels of music in bars remains in question. In this French study 40 bar patrons, aged 18-25, were unknowingly aware that they were being observed at random in two bars located in a medium-sized city. The bars were famous as hangouts for young people of the town. Only patrons drinking draft beer were considered as “participants.” Draft beer was generally served in 8 oz. glasses making it possible to observe consumption with the same product and capacity.

The researchers looked at the number of drinks ordered by each patron, the amount of time spent drinking each glass, and the number of gulps. It appeared that a higher level of music than normal was associated with increased consumption. A high level of sound led to increased drinking speed. Interestingly, the number of gulps needed to consume the glass of beer remained the same. The authors hypothesize that increased drinking is due to arousal caused by the louder music. They also suggested that loud music inhibits conversation and socializing which might lead to more consumption. These findings along with other research point to the sound level, style and tempo of music in a drinking environment as a factor in increased drinking. In France more than 70,000 persons die each year because of chronic alcohol consumption and alcohol is involved in the majority of fatal car wrecks. Music as an influence on how much people drink is a factor that has implications for both sides of the bar.

(Gueguen, N, Jacob, C, Le Guellec, H, Morineau, T, Lourel, M: Sound level of environmental music and drinking behavior: A field experiment with beer drinkers: Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 32: 1795-98, 2008.)

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