How does sound shape what we taste? Sonic Seasoning is an emerging interdisciplinary field exploring the powerful relationship between auditory experience and flavor perception. In this immersive workshop, participants will discover how musical texture, frequency, rhythm, and sonic atmosphere can subtly transform sensory interpretation, altering perceived sweetness, acidity, bitterness, richness, and overall enjoyment.
Blending sound design, gastronomy, and sensory science, the session offers a rare opportunity to experience multisensory perception firsthand through guided listening and curated pairings with regionally relevant fermented grape-based samples. Designed for an interdisciplinary audience, this oenological tasting workshop invites participants to rethink taste not as a purely physical act, but as an emotional and cognitive experience shaped by sound.
The workshop is a 90-minute multisensory tasting and listening session, limited to 20 participants to ensure an intimate, guided experience. It will be held in a quiet indoor setting that supports focused tasting and attentive listening. During the session, the ways in which sonic textures and musical patterns shape sensory perception will be explored, with an emphasis on noticing subtle interactions between sound and flavor.

About the organisers:

Dr. Oğuz Öner

Koç University, Istanbul, Türkiye

Dr. Oğuz Öner is a sound weaver, researcher, and multi-instrumentalist working at the intersection of sound studies, psychogeography, spatial perception, and artistic practice. He holds a PhD in Urban Planning from Istanbul Technical University, where his research focused on soundscape perception, urban acoustic environments, and the relationship between sonic culture and human-space interaction.
His work bridges research and practice, developing site-responsive sound environments, participatory soundwalks, and immersive auditory experiences that connect acoustics with architecture, memory, media, and performance. Through projects such as kadıköy_Akustik, he has mapped urban listening practices and user-based acoustic perception. His sound design has been featured in exhibitions at the Rahmi Koç Museum in collaboration with the Rijksmuseum, and in augmented reality projects developed with Apple. A TEDx speaker, he composes and designs sound for film, dance, and immersive media, creating cross-disciplinary experiential environments.

Ayseli İzmen

Özyeğin University, Istanbul, Türkiye

Ayseli İzmen works at the intersection of sensory research, wine studies, and food and beverage strategy. Her work examines wine and taste not merely as products, but as perceptual and cultural constructs shaped by multisensory interaction and meaning-making processes.
She is currently pursuing her PhD in gastrophysics, where she investigates taste perception, crossmodal correspondences, and the design of eating and drinking experiences. Her research bridges experimental inquiry and applied practice, integrating academic rigor with industry collaboration.

Ayseli serves as a part-time wine lecturer at Özyeğin University, teaching courses that address wine from technical, cultural, and sensory perspectives. Alongside her academic work, she collaborates with restaurants, producers, and brands on product development, positioning, and experience design, contributing to projects that connect terroir, production philosophy, and brand narrative within contemporary F&B contexts.