Time characteristics of olfaction in a single breath

Abstract

The transmission of olfactory information together with audiovisual information is now attracting much attention. However, the information is difficult to synchronize because of problems of scent lingering in the air and olfactory adaptation. We aimed at minimizing the amount of odorant presented to users in order to mitigate these problems, and developed an olfactory display that is able to present scents precisely. The display uses pulse ejection, whereby scents are emitted for only short periods of time. In this study, we aimed to mitigate the above-mentioned problems and to measure the time characteristics of olfaction in a single breath, which are difficult to measure by conventional methods. As a result, the most effective conditions for using a small amount of odorant in a single breath were revealed. These results are expected to ease the synchronization of olfactory and audiovisual information.