Interacting with Computers Through Smell

In our innovation spaces we also looked at 'communication', and sales via smell and taste.  Since at the time we were makers of some very large coffee blends.    We worked with simulations of blends and how people interacted with them via taste and aroma.  We even tested the ability to 'smell' with computers to test blends and model consumer reaction.  And their reaction in virtual reality settings.

Interacting With Computers Through Smell  By Sandrine Ceurstemont, Commissioned by CACM Staff, October 7, 2021

We typically interact with computers and virtual environments using vision, hearing, and touch, but there is growing interest in also incorporating smell, to replicate more closely how we interact with the real world.

Odors could help people feel more present in virtual reality settings, for example, while smell could also play a role in how we make rapid decisions or recall memories when using computers.

"The question is how can we harness the power of smell in this increasingly digital world," says Marianna Obrist, professor of multisensory interfaces at University College London in the U.K.

There are still challenges to overcome before smell can be widely used as a mode of human-computer interaction, though. A better understanding of how it could impact different aspects of behavior in virtual environments, for example, is needed.

"What we are trying to do is to understand the temporal and spatial diffusion of scent in order to really understand the effect on the user," says Obrist.

In recent work, Obrist and her colleagues investigated whether smell could help direct a person's attention in a virtual reality environment. They conducted experiments in which participants were presented with an abundance of visual stimuli, and had to pick out those that looked like mint leaves. Either sounds, smells, or both were incorporated into the virtual scene, and were emitted from different positions  in the virtual environment, in order to learn whether they could help guide a person towards the mint leaf icons.

Participants were assessed based on the number of mint leaves they spotted and where they were located. The position of each person's head was tracked as they completed the task, to determine the direction they were looking and whether that matched up with the location from which a scent or sound was being emitted.

Obrist and her team found participants typically directed their attention to the source of a sound or smell. Furthermore, they seemed to explore the left side more thoroughly when a sensation was delivered from the left, compared to when it originated from the right side. The researchers think that could be because all the participants were from cultures that read from left to right. "That might have some effect which would need to be accounted for in the future," says Obrist.

They also found differences in how effectively people focused their attention when sound or smell were used on their own, compared to when both modalities were combined. "The integration of sound and smell definitely produced the best results," says Obrist. ... '