This paper theoretically and experimentally demonstrates the possibility of detecting the five basic tastes (salt, sweet, sour, umami, and bitter) using a variety of higher-order acoustic waves propagating in piezoelectric plates. Aqueous solutions of sodium chloride (NaCl), glucose (C6H12O6), citric acid (C6H8O7), monosodium glutamate (C5H8NO4Na), and sagebrush were used as chemicals for the simulation of each taste. These liquids differed from each other in terms of their physical properties such as density, viscosity, electrical conductivity, and permittivity. As a total acoustic response to the simultaneous action of all liquid parameters on all acoustic modes in a given frequency range, a change in the propagation losses (ΔS12) of the specified wave compared with distilled water was used. Based on experimental measurements, the corresponding orientation histograms of the ΔS12 were plotted for different types of acoustic waves. It was found that these histograms for different substances are individual and differ in shape, area, and position of their extremes. Theoretically, it has been shown that the influence of different liquids on different acoustic modes is due to both the electrical and mechanical properties of the liquids themselves and the mechanical polarization of the corresponding modes. Despite the fact that the mechanical properties of the used liquids are close to each other, the attenuation of different modes in their presence is not only due to the difference in their electrical parameters. The proposed approach to creating a multi-parametric multimode acoustic electronic tongue and obtaining a set of histograms for typical liquids will allow for the development of devices for the operational analysis of food, medicines, gasoline, aircraft fuel, and other liquid substances without the need for detailed chemical analysis.
Keywords: acoustic waves of higher order; acoustic “tongue”; attenuation; food quality; liquid properties; piezoelectric plate; taste of liquid.