evelopment of Olfactory Display and AR Application to explore the Cross-modal Association Between Vision, Gustation, and Olfaction

​Recently the segments of augmented and virtual reality have begun to become more widespread. However, these growing segments have for the most part been orientated toward gaming. Thus, we created a socially impactful application using this technology to realize more meaningful uses for augmented reality in specific. Throughout the course of this project we manipulated reality in the hopes of convincing users that they are perceiving a gustatory sensation in absence of its catalysts (vision and odor). The goal of doing so is to have a system that can help reduce the issue of substance abuse. This feat was achieved by using an augmented reality headset to manipulate the physical appearance of an object (non -coffee beverage) to that of coffee as well as using an accompanying olfactory display to reproduce the scent of coffee. We found that when scent and vision were both changed most test subjects believed that the non-coffee beverage was coffee. Additionally, the same result was realized using only scent. However, when using only vision although coffee was still the most popular choice of our test subjects it was no longer in the position of majority. Furthermore, we found that users reported that the olfactory display was more assistive in deciding on the flavor of the beverage when accompanied by the according visual alterations. Resultantly, this report concludes that an augmented reality HMD can in fact be used with an Olfactory Display to convince users that they are consuming an object which they are not.