Vermont Tech Firm Believes To Experience The Metaverse, You Have To Smell It Too
“Wisniewski and his team think that someday scent is going to be just as integral to VR headsets as audio technology is to a smartphone. That's because he believes to really experience the metaverse, you don't just see it or hear it. You have to smell it, too.”
March 17, 2022
Mikaela LeFrak
Mikaela Lefrak from Vermont Public Radio was able to visit OVR and talk to Co-founder and CEO Aaron Wisniewski about his invention.
Wisniewski is a perfume maker and now an entrepreneur. His goal is to use smell to make the metaverse feel even more realistic. OVR believes “to really experience the metaverse, you don't just see it or hear it. You have to smell it, too.” The technology is roughly the size of a candy bar and the cartridge clips in. It has been called the modern-day smell-o-vision.
Judith Amores is a research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School focused on scent and virtual reality. Judith says that the sense of smell helps us feel fully immersed in a place and create memories.
In addition to the rose scent, they are developing urine, garbage, diesel fuel, gunpowder, blood, dirt, and feces. These malodors are being used in training simulations for soldiers or first responders.
