Synchronized presentation of odor with airflow using olfactory display

This paper reports on an olfactory display system that enables the synchronized presentation of odors with airflow in a virtual reality environment. In the proposed system, computational fluid dynamics simulation is conducted to calculate how an odor released from its source is spread in a given airflow field. An odor vapor with an appropriate concentration is generated and delivered to the user’s nose. A sensation that an odor is coming from a specific object is created even though the object per se is not releasing the odor. Experimental results are presented to show the potential of the proposed system.