Using Olfactive Virtual Environments for Learning Organic Molecules

ACM Trans. Multimedia Comput. Commun. Appl.

Ademoye

2012

________________________________________________________________________Olfaction, or smell, is one of the last challenges which multimedia applications have to conquer. As far as computerised smell is concerned, there are several difficulties to overcome, particularly those associated with the ambient nature of smell. In this paper, we present results from an empirical study exploring users' perception of olfaction-enhanced multimedia displays. Findings show that olfaction significantly adds to the user multimedia experience. Moreover, use of olfaction leads to an increased sense of reality and relevance. Our results also show that users are tolerant of the interference and distortion effects caused by olfactory effect in multimedia. Categories and ________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTIONOlfactory enhanced multimedia displays concerns themselves with associating computer generated smell with other media in order to enrich the users' experience and perception of a multimedia presentation or application. That olfaction-enhanced multimedia is a challenging research area is reflected by the relative paucity of research works in this area.Current usage of olfaction in multimedia has mostly been limited to the area of multimodal information displays, particularly in the area of presenting system and application output in alternative modes for end users. In such systems, there are different output modes available for presenting information, but only one data medium is used at any time to convey the required information and olfactory data usage in such application systems would often be used in response to, or to signify, the occurrence of some application event. Our interest with olfaction in multimedia displays is however concentrated with its usage when combined with other media. To this end, olfactory data may be used to enhance the meaning and provide clarity of user presented information and increase the sense of reality and enjoyment in multimedia applications. Most of the existing work done using olfactory data integrated with other media objects has mostly been done in the virtual reality field (Boyd et al., 2006;Dinh et al., 1999;Drolet et al., 2009;Jones et al., 2004;Kaye 2001;Nakamoto et al., 2008;Richard et al., 2006;Tijou, Richard and Richard, 2006;Washburn and Jones, 2004;Zybura and Eskeland, 1999), and only one of the reported cases shows any significant results to show that adding olfactory data to such systems impacted on the sense of reality of the application quite considerably.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The sweet smell of success

ACM Trans. Multimedia Comput. Commun. Appl.

Ademoye

2012

“…Although, as we shown in this section, there are studies that address the impact of olfaction on key elements of both entertainment and learning performance, educational games were not paired with odours with the exception of a chemistry educational environment [52]. However in this study, there is no information about testing the proposed system with users.…”

Section: Olfaction Based Multisensory Educational Gamesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Multisensory games-based learning - lessons learnt from olfactory enhancement of a digital board game

Covaci

Lin

et al. 2018

Multimed Tools Appl

Serious games are becoming an alternative educational method in a variety of fields because of their potential to improve the quality of learning experiences and to facilitate knowledge acquisition and content understanding. Moreover, entertainment-driven learners are more easily motivated to benefit from the learning process through meaningful activities defined in a game context. Interfacing educational computer games with multisensorial interfaces allows for a seamless integration between virtual and physical environments. Multisensorial cues can improve memory and attention and increase the cognitive and sensory-motor performance. Despite of the increasing knowledge in sensory processes, multisensory experiences and interactions in computer based instruction remain insufficiently explored and understood. In this paper, we present a multisensory educational gameFragrance Channel -and we investigate how enabling olfaction can contribute to users' learning performance, engagement and quality of experience. We compare results obtained after experiencing Fragrance Channel in the presence and absence of olfactory feedback on both a mobile and a PC. A knowledge test administered before and immediately after showed that our proposed educational game led to an improvement of performance in all the explored conditions. Subjective measurements carried out after the olfactory experience showed that students enjoyed the scenario and appreciated it as being relevant.

“…Examples of such studies involve a virtual reality (VR) learning system called VIREPSE using both olfactory and haptic feedback [1] and a mulsemedia VR learning environment which investigates the effects of olfaction on learning, retention, and recall of complex 3D structures such as organic molecules in chemical structures [2]. However, neither of these include any detailed evaluation, limiting the discussion to the significance of developing mulsemedia virtual environments for education.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving Learning Experience by Employing DASH-Based Mulsemedia Delivery

Silva

2018 IEEE Games, Entertainment, Media Conference (GEM)

et al. 2018

This paper describes the experimental deployment of a DASH-based Multi-Sensory Media Delivery System (DASHMS) to support multi-sensorial media-enhanced learning. Multi-sensorial media (mulsemedia) combines multimedia components (video and audio) and emerging technologies targeting other human senses (e.g. touch & haptics, smell and taste). This paper studies learning experience with olfaction and haptic-based mulsemedia when employing DASHMS in a real-life subjective experiment with 40 participants. The tests performed evaluate the user-perceived quality of experience (QoE) and the effects of mulsemedia on user learning.