Pulse Ejection Presentation System Synchronized with Breathing

Abstract

Trials on transmission of olfactory information together with audio/visual information are currently being conducted in the field of multimedia. However, continuous emission of scents in high concentration creates problems of human adaptation and remnant odors in air.
To overcome such problems we developed an olfactory display in conjunction with Canon Inc. This display has high emission control in the ink-jet so that it can provide stable pulse emission of scents. Humans catch a scent when they breathe in and inhale smell molecules in air. Therefore, it is important that the timing of scent presentation is synchronized with human breathing. We also developed a breath sensor which detects human inspiration.
In this study, we combined the olfactory display with the breath sensor to make a pulse ejection presentation system synchronized the breath. The experimental evaluation showed that the system had more than 90 percent of detection rate. Another evaluation was held at KEIO TECHNO-MALL 2007. From questionnaire results of the participants, we found that the system made the user feel continuous sense of smell avoiding adaptation. It is expected that our system enables olfactory information to be synchronized with audio/visual information in arbitrary duration at any time.