Olfactory Display
Joseph ‘Jofish’ Kaye
Cornell Information Science
Culturally Embedded Computing
UIST'04: Invited Survey
26 October 2004
Contents
0. Why should we care?
1. How smell works.
2. Typologies: Why smell is hard.
(3a)Technologies for Computerized Scent Output
(3b) Uses for Computerized Scent Output
3. Olfactory Display: History, Academia, Industry
4. Symbolic Olfactory Display: Theory
5. Conclusions: A Future for Computerized Scent
Output
0. Why
should
smell
matter
to UI?
1. Because it makes us question our
assumptions about how and what
we can and should communicate
information through a user
interface
2. Because it's powerful and evocative
sense, strongly tied into experience.
3. Because arguably the inherently
ambient interface.
1.
How
We
Smell
Olfactory epithelium contains ~1k kinds of receptors, each from a single
gene. (Buck & Axel (1991) A Novel Multigene Family May Encode
Odorant Receptors: A Molecular Basis for Odor Recognition. Cell
(65)). 2004 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine!
So, how
do those
smell
receptors
work?
3
theories:
• Vibrational
(Dyson 1938,
Wright 1954)
• Lock & Key
(Amoore 1963)
• Electron
tunneling
(Turin 1996)
~
Turin
(1996)
• Correlations between smell and
molecular structure but not shape
(bitter almond character of 40+
molecules including simple HCN,
complicated benzonitrile)
• Replace hydrogen in acetephenone
with deuterium (heavy hydrogen):
fruitier, more almond
• Proposes inelastic electron
tunneling as a mechanism
• Smell, like colour vision and
hearing, is a spectral sense
Turin, L. A spectroscopic mechanism for primary olfactory
reception. Chemical Senses 21(6) 1996.
Odor
Quantity:
We have
≤2 bits
of
precision
Accuracy ratings for 100% to 0% rose
concentrations: near chance
Engen, Trygg and Pfaffman, Carl. (1959) Absolute judgements of
odor intensity. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58(1):23-26.
Odor
‘Quality’
How
Many?
• Engen & Pfaffman 1960: 4
bits.
• Everyone else, later:
Hundreds.
• Why the difference? Naming
isn’t remembering:
• ‘Tip of the nose’ phenomena:
Labeling is everything:
• “Fishy-goaty-oily” vs. leather
• Complex smells are easier:
coffee vs. l-carvone
Varience in
individuals
and
population
Individuals vary
significantly in their
abilities to smell different
odors: specific anosmia
An individual’s variance
over time is as high as the
varience in the general
population. (Stevens et.
al. 1988)
Adaptation
and
Mixtures
People adapt to ambient smells
in under a minute (Cain 1974)
A strong smell smelt half an
hour ago will effect how you
perceive smells now.
(Hulshoff Pol et. al 1998)
Mixing smells has unpredictable
results on the ability to
perceive each.
So…
Conclusion #1:
Using the strength of a
scent to convey
information is
unreliable. You must
use different aromas.
Section
Two:
Typologies
Why is smell hard?
How can we
organize smells?
Why is
smell
hard?
What if we could only
use referents to refer
to colour?
"fire-engine colour"
"grass colour"
Why is
smell
hard?
…which is what we do
with smell.
"mint" ("smells like
mint smells like.")
"peppery",
"blackberry", etc.
Why is
smell
hard?
Exceptions:
trigeminal sensations:
"spicy hot"
"minty cold"
taste-related (tricky):
"sweet", "metallic"
Why is
smell
hard?
No clear system for
organizing. All such
systems are strongly
culturally
embedded.
Some examples:
Typologies I
First 'modern' system: generally attributed
to Linnaeus (1756); actually by Andreas
Wahlin, U Gothenberg
• Aromaticos aromatic
• Fragrantes fragrant
• Ambrocacos ambrosial (musky)
• Alliaceos alliaceous (garlicy)
• Hircinos hircine (goaty)
• Tetros repulsive
• Naufeofos nauseous
Zweibakker (1895) 9 categories, above +
"ethereal (fruits)" + "burnt
(Empyreumatic)"
Thanks to Janet Vertesi for Latin translation
Typologies II:
Sua Indians,
Brazil
bland-smelling: adult men
small mammals, birds
most fish
innocuous plants
pungent-smelling: old men,women
large mammals, macaw
some amphibians
medicinal plants
strong-smelling: adult women,
children, birds,
carnivorous mammals
harmful plants
Classen, Howes and Synnott (1994) Aroma: A Cultural History. Routledge
Typologies:
Conclusions
“There have been numerous
attempts at the classification of
odors, all of which have been
empirical and useless and most of
which have been childish and
absurd.” E Parry. The Class. of
Odors Perf. Ess. Oil Rec. 7 129-132
1916
Sagarin, E. On the inherent
invalidity of all current systems of
odor classification. Journal of the
Society of Cosmetic Chemists. p25-35
Vol .2 No. 1 1950.
There is no good general purpose
Pantone-like system.
Technologies
for
Computerized
Scent
Output
• Airbrushes (large volume,
complicated, little control)
• Solenoid & perfume bottle (good
for prototyping; little quantity
control)
• Fan, and/or heat: scented wax,
liquid, polymer (little control)
• Inkjet (expensive; hard, lots of
control. (HP, aromajet.com))
• Mechanized scratch-n-sniff (small
volume, lots of control)
• Add to existing HVAC (large
volume, little control)
• Scent for its own sake
– perfume counters, kiosks
– functionary (aromatherapy, etc)
Uses of
• Accompanying other media to
Computerized augment an experience
Scent
(movies, VR, websites, games,
physical spaces…)
Output
• Symbolic olfactory display
(warning signals, etc)
Section
Three:
Olfactory
Display
History
Movies
Patents
Academia
Industry
Movies
Ambient:
Aromarama 1958
Smell-o-Vision 1959
Scratch & Sniff:
Polyester 1981
ENO, Ren & Stimpy,
etc.
Sensorama
Morton
Heilig, 1962
Rheingold, H. Virtual Reality,
Ch. 2. Summit Books, NY.
Heilig, Morton. US Patents
#3,050,870, #3,469,837,
#3,628,829.
4. Academia
Virtual
reality
firefighter
training:
DiVe
J. Cater
(1993-98)
R. Strong,
W. Gaver
Feather,
Scent and
Shaker:
Supporting
Simple
Intimacy
CSCW ‘96
Dr. Jenny Tillotson
Senior Research
Fellow,
Central St. Martins
School of Fashion
& Design,
Scentsory Design
initiative.
Tillotson, Jenny. (1997) Interactive Olfactory Surfaces. The Wellness Collection - A Science Fashion Stor
Ph.D Thesis, School of Fashion & Textiles Research, Royal College of Art, London.
Interactive scent-emitting
jewelry, senses
physiological responses.
Tillotson: Collaboration with
nanotechnologists
Current
(Professor Manz, Inst.
work: e.scent of Spectrochemistry &
Applied Sciences)
Kaye
(2001,
2004)
inStink (12 bit presence &
activity awareness)
Dollars & Scents (2 bit
obligatory ambient stock
market display)
Scent Reminder (n x 1-bit)
Honey I’m Home (1 bit
minimal presence
awareness)
Kaye, J. Symbolic Olfactory Display. MS Thesis, MIT Media Lab.
Kaye, J 'J'. Making Scents: Aromatic Output for HCI interactions jan+feb 2004
inStink
Dollars & Scents
1-bit ambient,
peripheral,
NASDAQ statu
Scent
Reminder
Honey,
I’m
Home
Directed
Scent:
Yasayuki
Yanagida,
ATR,
Kyoto.
Olfactory cannons
for spotlight-like
scent control
Nose finding (it's
between the eyes
and down a bit)
(video)
Y. Yanagida, et al. Projection-Based Olfactory Display with Nose Tracking,
Proceedings of IEEE VR 2004, pp. 43-50, Chicago, U.S.A., March 2004
Olfactory
Cannons a brief
note
- Essentially sawtooth wave
through chamber with
small outlet port.
- Can scale up to very large
sizes (55 gallon drums,
larger for crowd control)
- Excellent description at
http://www.howtoons.org
- Video
Joost Bonsen & Saul Griffith. IGNobels 2003. www.howtoons.org
SIGGRAPH
2004: Scents
of Space
Usman
Haque, J
Pletts, L
Turin
Laminar airflow to
provide selective
space scenting
(video)
Unconventional
human computer
SIGGRAPH interfaces tutorial.
2004,
ACM VRST Steffi Beckhaus,
Tutorials
Ernst Kruijff
5. Industry
Patents:
Many. 3M,
IBM, IIT,
Motorola.
All tech
companies,
not smell.
Kaye, J. Computer Controlled Scent Output, Perfumer & Flavorist 28(6) 2004
Digiscents
~1998-2001
$20M venture capital
70 employees
Some software
No hardware
Went bust, April 2001.
Platt, Charles. You've Got Smell. Wired 7.11 November 1999
Abramson, R. Sniff-Company Digiscents is a Scratch. The Register 11 April 2001.
Trisenx
Production units
'next week'
$369; educational
market (olfactory
alphabet)
20 smells; USB
www.trisenx.com
Collaborations with
France Telecom,
Telewest Broadband
Olfacom
(UK), Kaori (Japan)
1-bit (€100), 6-bit
(Michel
(€700) scent output
Pozzo)
devices
Probably doing the
most in the field
www.olfacom.com
Osmooze
Single ($/€35), six bit
($/€329) dispensers.
USB controlled.
Collaboration with
France Telecom
www.osmooze.com
DaleAir
(Frank
Knight)
Scented spaces,
deodorizing,
museums, from
£45.97
Not fundamentally
designed for
computer control
www.daleair.com
Aggleton, J.P., Waskett, L.(1999) The ability of odours to serve as statedependent cues for real-world memories: Can Viking smells aid the recall
of Viking experiences? British Journal of Psychology 90:1-7.
aerome
Desktop/kiosks for
scent output
Marketing emphasis
(but collaborate, with,
support Tillotson)
www.aerome.com
Large systems for
architectural
Aromasys
scenting
(casinos,
(Mark
hotels, museums)
Peltier)
HVAC based
www.aromasys.com
ScentAir
(Forrest
Fleming)
Commercial, marketing
ScentPop ($200),
ScentWave ($500),
ScentBlitz ($1000) +
$25/cartridge
www.scentair.com
P&G
Scentstories
Generates a new scent every 30
mins; 5 scents per disk. $35
machine + 1 disk; $5/disk.
Febreeze branded; alternative to
plug-in air freshener
Why? Home fragrance $2.7B in
2002; projected $3.5B in 2006
4.
Symbolic The use of controlled scent
Olfactory
output to display
Display
information.
Kaye, J. Symbolic Olfactory Display. MS Thesis, MIT Media Lab.
Kaye, J 'J'. Making Scents: Aromatic Output for HCI interactions jan+feb 2004
www.hf.faa.gov/Webtraining/ NonVisDisplays/n08c_Olfactory.htm Europe
Telecommunications Standards Institute's Human Factors; Guidelines on the
multimodality of icons, symbols and pictograms v1.1.1: Olfactory Guidelines
Symbolic
Olfactory
Display:
olfactory
icon
Olfactory Icon: scent output to
display information where
scent is environmentally and
semantically linked to the
information conveyed. (ie:
gunpowder-scented Quake)
Symbolic
Olfactory
Display:
smicon: scent used to convey
information that has only an
abstract relationship with the
information it expresses. (ie:
incense clock)
smicon
Incense pattern of the “Hundred
Gradations Incense Seal” of Shen-Li
(1073 AD), from Bendini, S.A.
(1964) Holy Smoke: The Oriental
Fireclocks. New Scientist 21:537-539.
Section 5:
A Future
for
Computer
Controlled
Scent
Ambient Media/
Calm Computing
Commercial, Gaming,
Learning
Ubicomp output
Thank you.
Joseph 'Jofish' Kaye
jofish@cornell.edu
www.jofish.com/talks/
By request: highly recommended books
mentioned in the talk.
Emperor of Scent by Chandler Burr - a biography
of Luca Turin
Perfume by Patrick Suskind - a novel
Aroma: The Cultural History of Smell by Constance
Classen et. al. - a history of smell in different
cultures
Computation & Human Experience by Philip Agre why and how to question your field's core
assumptions and metaphors.
Many more references at
jofish.com/thesis/reflist.html