Japanese scientists create ‘Smell-O-Vision’ screen

Dive Into a World of Scents with the Revolutionary Smelling Screen

Have you ever longed to not just witness the unfolding drama on your screen but to be completely enveloped by it? Imagine if you could not only see the story but also smell the scenes. Thanks to the innovative minds at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, this multisensory experience is becoming a reality with the advent of the smelling screen.

Traditional attempts to incorporate scents into visual media, such as the “Smell-O-Vision” used in cinemas of the past, relied on dispersing fragrances into the air, often with mixed results. However, the technology we’re talking about today takes this concept to an entirely new level of precision and immersion.

This state-of-the-art smelling screen doesn’t just fill the room with aromas; it pinpoints scents to specific areas of the display. Imagine watching a cooking show where the chef is sizzling bacon in one corner of the screen, and you can actually smell the bacon wafting from that exact spot. This level of detail in scent distribution transforms the viewing experience, making it seem as though the aromas are emanating directly from the objects or people depicted on the screen.

During a demonstration at the IEEE Virtual Reality conference last month, the creators of the smelling screen described it as “a new olfactory display that can generate a localized odor distribution on a two-dimensional display screen.” They further explained that this technology creates an odor distribution that mimics the sensation of having an actual scent source on the screen itself, guiding viewers to perceive the smell as coming from a particular area of the display.

This breakthrough is not just a novelty; it’s a glimpse into the future of entertainment and education, where our sense of smell will play a pivotal role in how we experience digital content. Stay tuned to our blog for more updates on this fascinating intersection of technology and sensory experience.

Here’s the abstract for the paper on a smelling screen:

Abstract

We propose a new olfactory display system that can generate an odor distribution on a two-dimensional display screen. The proposed system has four fans on the four corners of the screen. The airflows that are generated by these fans collide multiple times to create an airflow that is directed towards the user from a certain position on the screen. By introducing odor vapor into the airflows, the odor distribution is as if an odor source had been placed onto the screen. The generated odor distribution leads the user to perceive the odor as emanating from a specific region of the screen. The position of this virtual odor source can be shifted to an arbitrary position on the screen by adjusting the balance of the airflows from the four fans. Most users do not immediately notice the odor presentation mechanism of the proposed olfactory display system because the airflow and perceived odor come from the display screen rather than the fans. The airflow velocity can even be set below the threshold for airflow sensation, such that the odor alone is perceived by the user. We present experimental results that show the airflow field and odor distribution that are generated by the proposed system. We also report sensory test results to show how the generated odor distribution is perceived by the user and the issues that must be considered in odor presentation.

via NIH