Loud pop music in bars makes people drink more and down it more quickly, a study in France has shown.

Researchers watched young men who had ordered a glass of beer on a Saturday evening in two unnamed bars in western France. The drinkers were unaware they were being watched by the researchers, who had programmed the sound system to select randomly either a normal level of 72 decibels or a loud level of 88dB.

Nicolas Guéguen, Professor of Behavioural sciences at the Université de Bretagne-Sud, led the study. He said: “Previous research has shown that fast music can cause fast drinking, and that music versus no music can cause a person to spend more time in a bar. This is the first time that an experimental approach in a real context found the effects of loud music on alcohol consumption.”

The results, published online in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, show that the louder the music, the more swiftly the drinkers finished their beer, ordered more – or left.

It is entirely possible, Professor Guéguen admits, that they just found the atmosphere uncongenial, so accelerated their drinking and left.

The study watched 40 men, aged between 18 and 25, drinking draught beer in 25cl measures. As each chosen particpant left the bar, the music level was reset randomly and a new participant selected. The bar owners gave permission for the experiment.The music played was Top 40 songs.

The findings add to a rich literature on the effects of music on behaviour. For example, it has been shown that music of any sort encourages drinking when compared with silence, and that slower music encourages heavier spending. The style of music can influence what drinks are chosen, one study found. French music increased the sales of French wine, German music the sales of German wine.

In another study, Top 40 songs were compared with drinking songs. Drinking songs extended the time that customers spent in the bar.

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