DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

Olfactory Interfaces:
Beyond Seeing and Hearing
Dr Emanuela Maggioni
University College London - OW | Smell made digital
ow-smelldigital.com

emanuela@owidgets.co.uk
@o_widgets @schi_lab @uclcs @uclic
Why does
olfaction
matter?
McGann, Science (2017) Porter et al., Nature (2007)
Reducing aggression (Kahana & Sobel, 2013)
Mate selection (Lübke & Pause, 2015)
Olfactory Experiences
 “Emotional brain”

hypothalamus, amygdala,
1= Receptors in the nose
2= Piriform Cortex
hippocampus/fornix, pons, pituitary gland
3= Orbitofrontal Cortex
Lundström, Freiherr & Boesveldt, 2011
http://lifesciencedb.jp/bp3d/
www.thoughtco.com
Technology is limited to a sub-set of
human capabilities and experiences
Source: h*p://www.happyenglish.sk/vyucba-jazykov-de=-clanky/
Towards Multisensory Human-Computer
Interaction
Cross-modal correspondences

“Crossmodal correspondence refers to a compatibility

effect between attributes or dimensions of a stimulus
(object or event) in different sensory modalities
(redundant or not)…”

p. 937, Spence, 2011

Crossmodal Correspondences in Storytelling

Psycho, Hitchcock, 1960

How to deliver, control, and design with scent?
Other Olfactory Studies & Use Cases

Feelings

Smell Space: Mapping out the Olfactory Design Space for Novel
Interactions (Maggioni E., at al., 2020, Transactions on Computer- Body Image
Human Interaction (TOCHI) As light as your scent (Brianza, G. et al. 2019, INTERACT)
Olfactory interac=on paradigms Multisensory Effect on Body Perception

A perspecAve paper on olfactory cues for personalized relaxaAon (Pizzoli,

May I Smell your AAen;on (Dozio, N. et al., 2021, Fron;ers in
S. et al. 2021- PerspecAves on Psychological Science)- collaboraAon with
Psychology) European InsAtute of Oncology

VR for Neuropsychological Rehabilitation Personalied Scent-Relaxa;on for Cancer Pa;ents

https://owidgets.co.uk/
 First cross-cultural standardised &
digitalised smell tests

SMELL-S and SMELL-R: olfactory tests not influenced by odor-specific insensitivity or prior olfactory
experience. (Hsieh, J.W., et al., PNAS, 2017)
info@newreality.co
treeofficial.com
video tree
Source: New Reality Co.
Tudor Game - MULTISENSORY AR EXPERIENCE
Fly - MULTISENSORY VR EXPERIENCE
“Like Pop-Corn”: Crossmodal correspondences between scents, 3D
shapes and emotions in children (Oussama, Maggioni, Cullen & Obrist,
CHI, 2019)
 Proof-of-Concept Award
June 2021 – Dec 2022

Towards Digital Smell

Training & Health
 DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

Thanks to:
Prof Marianna Obrist &
the former SCHI Lab Team

Chi Thanh Vi Marianna Giada Brianza

Dmitrijs Dmitrenko Jesse Josua Benjamin Daniel Hajas

Dario Pittera Patricia Cornelio Emanuela Thanks to our Funders

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

Thanks - get in touch!

emanuela@owidgets.co.uk
@o_widgets @schi_lab @uclcs @uclic