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. 2022 Mar 30;17(3):e0265039.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265039. eCollection 2022.

Odour enhances the sense of presence in a virtual reality environment

Nicholas S Archer  1 , Andrew Bluff  2 , Andrew Eddy  3 , Chreshall K Nikhil  4 , Nick Hazell  2 , Damian Frank  1 , Andrew Johnston  2
Affiliations

Odour enhances the sense of presence in a virtual reality environment

Nicholas S Archer et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) headsets provide immersive audio-visual experiences for users, but usually neglect to provide olfactory cues that can provide additional information about our environment in the real world. This paper examines whether the introduction of smells into the VR environment enhances users' experience, including their sense of presence through collection of both psychological and physiological measures. Using precise odour administration with an olfactometer, study participants were exposed to smells while they were immersed in the popular PlayStation VR game "Resident Evil 7". A within-subject study design was undertaken where participants (n = 22) walked-through the same VR environment twice, with or without the introduction of associated congruent odour stimuli. Directly after each gameplay, participants completed a questionnaire to determine their sense of presence from the overall gameplay and their sense of immersion in each of the virtual scenes. Additionally, physiological measurements (heart rate, body temperature and skin electrodermal activity) were collected from participants (n = 11) for each gameplay. The results showed the addition of odours significantly increased participants' sense of spatial presence in the VR environment compared to VR with no odour. Participants also rated the realism of VR experience with odour higher compared to no odour, however odour addition did not result in change in emotional state of participants (arousal, pleasure, dominance). Further, the participants' physiological responses were impacted by the addition of odour. Odour mediated physiological changes were dependent on whether the VR environment was novel, as the effect of odour on physiological response was lost when participants experienced the aroma on the second gameplay. Overall, the results indicate the addition of odours to a VR environment had a significant effect on both the psychological and physiological experience showing the addition of smell enhanced the VR environment. The incorporation of odours to VR environments presents an opportunity to create a more immersive experience to increase a person's presence within a VR environment. In addition to gaming, the results have broader applications for virtual training environments and virtual reality exposure therapy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have read the journal’s policy and have the following competing interests: Nicholas Archer and Damian Frank are paid employees of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Active Integrated Matter (AIM) Future Science Platform (FSP). There are no patents, products in development or marketed products associated with this research to declare. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Overview of experimental set-up for the study.
Zone 1: participant briefing and post-gameplay questionnaires, Zone 2: the gameplay area, Zone 3: olfactometer, and Zone 4: the monitoring/supervision area.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Comparison of ITC-SOPI scores (SEM) post VR gameplay with and without the presence of odour.
* p < 0.05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Active Integrated Matter (AIM) Future Science Platform. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.