Scent as a modality – Study on the olfactory sense in multisensorial design

Abstract

Multisensorial design usually relies on vision, audition and haptic senses for interacting with devices, generally leaving taste and smell aside from conventional modes used in most device interfaces. The feedback we get by interacting with appliances is mostly visual, auditive or haptic. We may agree that smell or taste may be secondary to the above referred senses due to several features, some related with cognition and others due to technical constraint. The role of taste and smell as a communicative feature from a device may not be obvious. However, these two senses may be of use. In taste we have the usage of Bitrex® as a safety feature being the most bitter substance in order to avoid ingestion of countless different products. Similarly, the intentional use of an unpleasant smell to prevent people from staying in a given space can be considered a good example of its usage. The use of scent as a secondary sense to help on experiences causing a prosody effect is also possible with smell. This paper will explore the role that a smell may have as a modality to be used in designing devices.