The sense of smell is the most ancient and very influential sense organ. We tell you how technologies for transferring odors are developing, why the Internet still does not smell of anything, and how soon aroma gadgets will appear on the mass market.
In 2019, Ericsson ConsumerLab published a study on the top 10 consumer trends for the next ten years. The authors interviewed 12 people who are regular users of augmented and virtual assistants AR / VR devices.
According to the survey, 6 out of 10 consumers expect to be able to digitally visit forests or the countryside in the near future, smelling the natural smells of these places. This is the strongest expectation among the proposed scent concepts and proves that users need more immersion than video alone can provide.
According to consumers surveyed, watching a video or movie would be more exciting if you could smell what was happening on the screen. By 2030, 56% of respondents would like to smell the scents from the films they watch. True, the figures of the film industry have more than once made attempts to convey smells through the screens.
The aroma of total immersion
Back in the late 1950s, Swiss engineer Hans Laube invented Smell-O-Vision, a system that released scent vapors during a movie show. The technology was developed to demonstrate the painting “The Smell of Mystery”. The film was shown in three specially equipped cinemas in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. A tube led to each seat, from which, according to a pre-set timer, the desired aroma was released.
However, the public greeted the innovation without enthusiasm. Smells came out of the holes with a characteristic hiss, and surprised and confused spectators – especially those who did not reach the aroma – sniffed at the unusual sensations with no less loud sniffing. Often the smells appeared late and did not correspond to the plot of the film, and the most “lucky” sprays caused allergies. All this only distracted from what was happening on the screen.
Manufacturers of the system tried to fix the flaws, but bad rumors had already gone about the new technology. In addition, the authors of Smell-O-Vision were forced to compete with a similar AromaRama technology, which was released in the same 1959. She accompanied the Italian documentary Beyond the Great Wall.
In this case, odorous substances entered the hall through ventilation. During the film, the audience had to feel about 100 fragrant compositions, including the smell of grass, earth, incense. But not always these feelings evoked a positive reaction from the audience.
Writing for the New York Times, columnist Bosley Crowther called the scents from the next session “elusive, oppressive, casual and banal”: oils. A few times there is the smell of smoke or incense, and the scenes of the parade with flowers become almost depressing due to the spray of cheap perfume.
Both developments did not last long. Supplementing films with smells turned out to be indecently expensive, and it was not possible to recoup such expenses. Negative reviews also played a role: Time magazine recognized Smell-O-Vision as one of the hundred worst inventions in history.
Aromatic rides in movies returned two decades later. In 1981, Americans got acquainted with John Waters’ comedy “Polyester” and an aromascope – a special card on which different smells are applied. At the marked time of the movie screening, you need to rub the desired section of the card and, together with the hero, feel the prepared aroma. Spectators of the movie Spy Kids 4D faced the same technology in 2011 when aromascopes were issued along with tickets.
In 2021, the developers introduced the Illusion Aroma smart speaker. The device is intended for aromatic accompaniment of videos at home or in cinemas. The column contains 28 cartridges with various aromas, which are mixed in the right proportions and sprayed depending on the scene.
The developers plan to train the neural network to identify smells from the picture and mix them automatically. At the pilot stage, the column was charged with ready-made smells that are often found in films, for example, the aromas of coffee and fresh pastries.
I have an idea, if there is a demand
With the development of technology, scientists have not abandoned attempts to curb smells and turn them into the same “files” as text, picture or sound. In the late 1990s, molecular biologist Joel Bellenson and industrial engineer Dexter Smith were so impressed with a Florida beach vacation that they decided to stream the flavors of the vacation over the Internet.
Here is what Bellenson recalled about his insight: “All these hot ladies, beautiful beaches, vibes and smells just amazed me. I took a deep breath and said, “Can I somehow capture them and give the Internet losers a taste of the outside world?”
The scientists set out to develop software that would help decompose odors into thousands of chemical components, “encode” them and transmit them via a USB device or the Internet. Before that, the developers had already launched a successful company for the development of software for gene analysis, so they enthusiastically set to work on a new case.
Joel Bellenson:
“We wanted to create a scent printing press. It was not just a new technology, but an attempt to rethink the sensory experience.”
Bellenson and Smith’s team was joined by developers from legendary companies: Sega, Transamerica, NEC, Sprint PCS, Bath & Body Works, as well as olfactometrists – the people who measure the sharpness of the sense of smell. The ambitious startup was preparing to change the media and entertainment industry forever.
The company raised $20 million from Asian investors and created the iSmell scent transfer device. It consisted of dozens of small capsules of oils, and the smell was distributed using a built-in fan. A set of scents could be mixed, creating thousands of unique scents. iSmell connected to the computer via a cable.
By the end of 1999, Bellenson and Smith had signed contracts with Sony and Microsoft, and Dreamworks, Dolby Laboratories and IMAX were ready to use the technology in movies. The company made a big bet on cooperation with the video game industry and did not fail – more than 5 thousand game developers downloaded software for games with smells.
However, iSmell’s success did not last long. And it’s not that the “smell synthesizer” was sometimes wrong, and users complained that one smell interrupted another. In 2002, a promising company closed down simply because the audience and private users did not need it. Analysts have found no real demand for a device that would transmit odors.
Nevertheless, similar technologies and gadgets continue to appear, and their creators are aware of the huge financial risks. “Right now, no one wakes up at three in the morning and thinks, “Oh, I urgently want to send this smell to someone.” But one day it will,” says David Edwards, founder of the oPhone, a text-to-smell device.
Electronic nose
Most odor transfer devices are similar – they contain a block of real oils or other chemicals that are sprayed and somehow get into the person’s nose. But a team of scientists from Malaysia went further.
In 2018, Malaysian scientists from the Imagination Institute conducted an experiment. They installed electrodes in the nostrils of 31 subjects, through which weak electric currents were applied, affecting the neurons responsible for “decoding” odors. The researchers were able to evoke 10 virtual odors in the control group, including fruity, woody, and minty. Scientists have no illusions that people would be willing to insert tubes with electrodes into their nostrils to send scents to each other via video link. However, this stage of research will help in the future to create a more advanced technology to create a kind of electronic nose, which will help send digital smells, for example, through glasses. The director of the institute and Professor Cheok believes that such devices will be available in 15 years.
The technology of electric smell can be useful not only in the field of entertainment and communications. It will be useful for restoring the sense of smell in people who have lost it as a result of illness, injury or congenital anomaly.
Another electronic nose, but with a different task, was invented by German engineers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. The device they developed does not transmit odors, but very quickly perceives and identifies them. A sensor measuring a few centimeters in size is able to “smell” the smell of smoke or gas before any other device. The tiny device is planned to be trained to such an extent that it can be embedded in a smartphone and used to determine the freshness of products at home or in a store.