Abstract
In general, the information and communications that humans receive from computers, smartphones, televisions and the majority of other screens, tend to be limited to visual information and audio information. If we think of any medium that has swept the world in the last century, it is fair to say that most are heavily reliant on using the eyes and ears in order to experience what is being transmitted. More and more there seems to be a desire to improve the personal experiences, such as the development of 3D viewing.However, in recent years, attention has turned to another human sense that is generally not considered when we think of digital mediums - the sense of smell. Olfactory information is of particular interest because it is different from the information that is recognised by the other four senses (sight, hearing, touch and taste). The sense of smell is known to influence human feelings through olfactory information transmitting to the cerebral limbic system, which governs emotions and memories. Professor Yuichi Bannai is a researcher based at the Department of Information Media within the Kanagawa Institute of Technology in Japan, where researchers are now investigating a means of incorporating olfactory information into different mediums to improve experience and heighten pleasure.