Do eyes deceive ears? Check how colors change sound.

When what we see influences what we hear

The human brain does not process the senses in isolation. Visual, auditory, and tactile information is integrated into a coherent image of reality. This phenomenon is known as multisensory integration (cross-modal perception).

In practice, this means that visual signals can affect the interpretation of what we hear. Similar examples are known in sensory psychology – for instance, the color of a drink can influence the perception of its taste, and the appearance of an instrument can change the way we evaluate its sound. More and more, similar relationships are being studied also in the context of architectural acoustics.

Study: The color of the room and the perception of sound

In February 2026, a study was published in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America analyzing whether the color scheme of a concert hall can influence the reception of music. In the experiment, participants listened to recordings of music in a virtual concert hall. The acoustics of the room remained identical in each case – only the color scheme of the interior, visually presented to the participants, was changed.

Listeners evaluated various aspects of sound, such as:

• timbre,

• the impression of "warmth" or "coolness" of sound,

• loudness,

• reverb,

• overall sound quality.

The results showed that the color of the room can influence the perception of timbre, meaning whether the music seems more "warm" or "cool". For example, intense shades of green and blue were more often associated by participants with cooler sounds.

At the same time, the study found that the color scheme did not affect the assessment of loudness or the duration of reverb. This means that the fundamental acoustic properties remain dependent on the physics of the room – while the subjective interpretation of sound changes.

Interestingly, study participants often rated the listening experience in darker interiors better than in bright, vividly colored spaces.

What does this mean for the design of listening spaces?

In the acoustic design of listening spaces, we primarily focus on elements such as:

• control of reverb time,

• evenness of frequency response,

• reduction of early reflections,

• appropriate diffusion and absorption.

However, studies on multisensory perception suggest that the visual character of a space can influence the subjective evaluation of sound.

This does not mean that wall color replaces acoustic treatment. It can, however, subtly change the way users perceive sound in the room.

In practice, this means that when designing listening spaces, it is worth considering not only acoustic parameters but also the visual coherence of the interior with the character of the listening experience.

For example:

• Darker, muted interiors may promote concentration on sound,

• limiting very intense colors may reduce visual distraction,

• a coherent aesthetic of the space can enhance the impression of a “controlled” listening environment.

Acoustics also means psychoacoustics

Room acoustics is the science of sound wave propagation in space. However, music reception always takes place in the human brain, and is therefore also subject to the laws of perception psychology.

Research on the impact of room appearance on sound perception shows that acoustics is not only measurements and graphs. It is also the way users perceive the space in which they listen to music.

A well-designed listening room should therefore operate on two levels simultaneously: providing controlled acoustic conditions and simultaneously creating an environment conducive to focusing on sound.

The Journal of Acoustical Society of America - The influence of the color design of auditoriums on room acoustic impression