TY - GEN
T1 - The Smell Engine
T2 - 29th IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces, VR 2022
AU - Bahremand, Alireza
AU - Manetta, Mason
AU - Lai, Jessica
AU - Lahey, Byron
AU - Spackman, Christy
AU - Smith, Brian H.
AU - Gerkin, Richard C.
AU - Likamwa, Robert
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 IEEE.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Mimicking physical odor sensations virtually can present users with a real-time odor synthesis that approximates what users would smell in a virtual environment, e.g., as they walk around in virtual reality. To this end, we devise a Smell Engine that includes: (i) a Smell Composer framework that allows developers to configure odor sources in virtual space, (ii) a Smell Mixer that dynamically estimates the odor mix that the user would smell, based on diffusion models and relative odor source distances, and (iii) a Smell Controller that coordinates an olfactometer to physically present an approximation of the odor mix to the user's mask from a set of odorants channeled through controllable flow valves. Through a three-part user study, we found that the Smell Engine can help measure a subject's olfactory detection threshold and improve their ability to precisely localize odors in the virtual environment, as compared to existing trigger-based solutions.
AB - Mimicking physical odor sensations virtually can present users with a real-time odor synthesis that approximates what users would smell in a virtual environment, e.g., as they walk around in virtual reality. To this end, we devise a Smell Engine that includes: (i) a Smell Composer framework that allows developers to configure odor sources in virtual space, (ii) a Smell Mixer that dynamically estimates the odor mix that the user would smell, based on diffusion models and relative odor source distances, and (iii) a Smell Controller that coordinates an olfactometer to physically present an approximation of the odor mix to the user's mask from a set of odorants channeled through controllable flow valves. Through a three-part user study, we found that the Smell Engine can help measure a subject's olfactory detection threshold and improve their ability to precisely localize odors in the virtual environment, as compared to existing trigger-based solutions.
KW - Computer systems organization
KW - Human-centered computing
KW - Interactive systems and tools
KW - Sensors and actuators
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85129396762
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85129396762&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/VR51125.2022.00043
DO - 10.1109/VR51125.2022.00043
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85129396762
T3 - Proceedings - 2022 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces, VR 2022
SP - 241
EP - 249
BT - Proceedings - 2022 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces, VR 2022
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Y2 - 12 March 2022 through 16 March 2022
ER -