Interview with Aaron Wisniewski
"The Metaverse without scent would be like living in black and white"
February 27, 2023
Brock Riney
Emerging Technologies Podcast
Brock Riney was joined by Aaron Wisniewski CEO of OVR Technologies on the Emerging Technologies Podcast to discuss the use of smell in VR.
They discussed how in our increasingly digital and virtual lives we are experiencing a lot of visual and audio information but Aaron says the thing that makes it a more human experience is adding other scenes such as smell. Smell is the only one of our senses that is linked directly to the part of our brain that processes memory and emotion. Our sense of smell has a powerful impact on how we feel how we think and how we behave. Aaron says that "Introducing smell into these digital and virtual experiences makes them so much richer and more immersive and emotionally engaging". He also says that with AR and VR there is the opportunity to create completely new experiences and new associations with different scents. So OVR had identified 9 primary and distinct odors that have some degree of familiarity that can be used to create thousands of different odors. And with these create new associations. These associations can drive things like joy and entertainment or even education, and social connection.
They go on to discuss the spacial and positional nature of scent and how while using the OVR Headset your behavior triggers the smells to increase and dissipate. This technology has real-world applications in health and wellness fields like detox and rehab facilities. VR can help guide people through stress and anxiety with nature scenes and meditation and breath work while creating associations between scents and calm mood states.
To hear about Aarons's thoughts on the future of VR and more watch the full podcast with Brock Riney.
Click Here to Watch the Full Podcast.