Smell-O-Vision
Long theorized by television and film, “Smell-O-Vision” is the idea that digital media could produce a scent to more thoroughly immerse the viewer. While there have been attempts and partially successful examples in the past, I do not believe we will ever achieve true Smell-O-Vision. And I’m not just being a doubting naysayer, I have genuine reason behind this proposition.
This theory began from a discussion with my wife about purchasing Bath & Body Works items for Mother’s Day gifts. We both prefer shopping online instead of visiting brick and mortar stores, but scents are one thing that will always require a store front. Without physically smelling the products, you can never know exactly what you’re getting unless it is an item that you’ve purchased before. We mused about how it would be nice if they could use Smell-O-Vision on their website to let you smell the scents from the comfort of your home.
Before long, we started musing about exactly how this would work. To release actual scent molecules, there would need to be some sort of device installed on the user’s end with each of these smells already loaded. Apparently, a company has already explored this option to scent rooms according to the user’s preferences. As expected, however, it requires a cartridge of scents and limits the user to only 11 different scents at the time this article was published.
Alternatively, there would have to be some way that a signal could stimulate the smeller’s brain directly to spoof the scent. After all, our senses are all electrical impulses interpreted by the brain as sights, smells, tastes, sounds, etc. Not that this route would be easy, but in theory, it could create any scent without a cartridge, and as long as the scent has been essentially cataloged.
The problem with the neural option is that it would require an immense catalog of scents, and users would need some sort of probe installed in their brains to communicate any particular scent. Are people really going to be willing to get a probe in their brains just to smell something via data transmission? How much would that cost to install? What sort of bugs would arise? The complications here are nearly endless.
For the case of Bath & Body Works, we determined that a scratch and sniff catalog would probably be a better option (if that gets implemented, I want credit). At present, we just don’t have the technology. The more we talked about it, though, the more that I doubted we will ever have the technology. With all the hoops to jump through, all the elements in place, Smell-O-Vision would be costly to implement and offer very little practical benefit.
Ultimately, it comes down to a balance of difficulty and benefit, or risk vs reward if you will. Properly implementing a true Smell-O-Vision would be tremendously difficult. It would require research, trials, effort, money, and time to an absurd degree. Which is all well and good for things that truly offer a boon to humanity. An AIDS cure, if/when it comes, would be worth every bit of the effort required to create it. Smell-O-Vision just does not give the same benefit, which (in my opinion) makes it a bad use of all those resources mentioned above. Digital media could be a little more immersive by emanating scents. Purveyors of perfumes, candles, and the like could make their scents available online. While these results are not without value, they pale in comparison to curing diseases, solving world hunger, or some other humanitarian goals. Until we solve literally every other large problem in the world, I think (and hope) Smell-O-Vision will fall behind initiatives that solve bigger issues with more impactful results.
Sources:
Deleon, N. (2016, April 28). Smell-O-Vision Is Finally Almost Here. Retrieved May 8, 2018, from https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/xyggad/cyrano-digital-scent-gadget
This theory began from a discussion with my wife about purchasing Bath & Body Works items for Mother’s Day gifts. We both prefer shopping online instead of visiting brick and mortar stores, but scents are one thing that will always require a store front. Without physically smelling the products, you can never know exactly what you’re getting unless it is an item that you’ve purchased before. We mused about how it would be nice if they could use Smell-O-Vision on their website to let you smell the scents from the comfort of your home.
Before long, we started musing about exactly how this would work. To release actual scent molecules, there would need to be some sort of device installed on the user’s end with each of these smells already loaded. Apparently, a company has already explored this option to scent rooms according to the user’s preferences. As expected, however, it requires a cartridge of scents and limits the user to only 11 different scents at the time this article was published.
Alternatively, there would have to be some way that a signal could stimulate the smeller’s brain directly to spoof the scent. After all, our senses are all electrical impulses interpreted by the brain as sights, smells, tastes, sounds, etc. Not that this route would be easy, but in theory, it could create any scent without a cartridge, and as long as the scent has been essentially cataloged.
The problem with the neural option is that it would require an immense catalog of scents, and users would need some sort of probe installed in their brains to communicate any particular scent. Are people really going to be willing to get a probe in their brains just to smell something via data transmission? How much would that cost to install? What sort of bugs would arise? The complications here are nearly endless.
For the case of Bath & Body Works, we determined that a scratch and sniff catalog would probably be a better option (if that gets implemented, I want credit). At present, we just don’t have the technology. The more we talked about it, though, the more that I doubted we will ever have the technology. With all the hoops to jump through, all the elements in place, Smell-O-Vision would be costly to implement and offer very little practical benefit.
Ultimately, it comes down to a balance of difficulty and benefit, or risk vs reward if you will. Properly implementing a true Smell-O-Vision would be tremendously difficult. It would require research, trials, effort, money, and time to an absurd degree. Which is all well and good for things that truly offer a boon to humanity. An AIDS cure, if/when it comes, would be worth every bit of the effort required to create it. Smell-O-Vision just does not give the same benefit, which (in my opinion) makes it a bad use of all those resources mentioned above. Digital media could be a little more immersive by emanating scents. Purveyors of perfumes, candles, and the like could make their scents available online. While these results are not without value, they pale in comparison to curing diseases, solving world hunger, or some other humanitarian goals. Until we solve literally every other large problem in the world, I think (and hope) Smell-O-Vision will fall behind initiatives that solve bigger issues with more impactful results.
Sources:
Deleon, N. (2016, April 28). Smell-O-Vision Is Finally Almost Here. Retrieved May 8, 2018, from https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/xyggad/cyrano-digital-scent-gadget
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