你知道我们四分之三的情绪都受到嗅觉的影响吗？你一定听说过芳香疗法。有不同情绪问题的人使用不同的香气来稳定情绪波动。关于香气及其效果可以写很多，但在这篇文章中，我们将只关注数字气味技术。为了便于理解，我们将以电影和剧院为例。
什么是数字香氛技术
想象一下(Imagine)，如果你能在你最喜欢的电影场景中体验嗅觉，那将是多么不可思议。增加这个内脏维度会给场景增加更多的深度。几乎看电影体验的每一个方面都可以通过添加气味来增强。它不仅会激化我们的情绪，还会让这部剧增强现实感。
因此，它可以被解释为电影院和制片人通过释放与他们在屏幕上观看的内容相关的气味/香气来提供丰富的电影体验的无数和不同的尝试。不同的电影院和电影制片人已经尝试了许多方法来重现屏幕上显示的内容的气味。其中，Smell-O-Vision因对某些人有效而获得了卓越的声誉。请注意，它“仅适用于某些人”。这是一个失败，但在谈到数字气味技术时，有必要解释一下Smell-O-Vision是什么。
什么是嗅觉视觉？
这是一个旨在释放气味的系统，以便观众可以闻到他们在屏幕上的视觉体验。通过连接到剧院各个座位的管道，及时且受控地释放出适当的气味。
不幸的是，该系统没有按预期工作。观众抱怨气味的释放伴随着令人分心的嘶嘶声。此外，屏幕上的场景与所体验的香气之间存在明显的时间不匹配。在剧院的某些地方，气味太微弱以至于无法辨认。
致力于数字气味技术(Digital Scent Technology)：当前的障碍
这里出现了一个问题，即使在我们将人类送上月球四十年后，为什么我们仍然无法在电影院有效地再现气味？
造成这种情况的主要原因之一是，与其他感官相比，嗅觉还没有被很好地理解。我们感知气味的方式与我们感知任何其他感官的方式相同；气味是由主要位于鼻子后部的空腔中的不同感觉细胞检测到的。一旦这些细胞检测到气味分子，就会向大脑触发一条信息。不幸的是，我们仍然没有清楚地了解感觉细胞如何感知气味以及大脑如何区分不同的气味。这严重限制了我们构建能够有效再现气味的技术的能力。
在电影院引入香水时，还有其他看似平凡但棘手的挑战。例如，您如何确保气味在整个影院中均匀地大量散布，以便同时被所有观众注意到？还需要确保气味到达观看者的时间与屏幕上显示的场景完全一致，另外气味应迅速消散，为下一次气味让路。
数字气味技术研究——(Digital Scent Technology –)它可以工作吗？
许多公司都在研究数字气味技术。这将使我们能够以数字方式感知、传输和再现气味。一个值得注意的例子是“The Scent Dome”，它正在由一家名为Telewest Broadband(Telewest Broadband)的英国互联网服务提供商进行测试。该装置大约有一个茶壶那么大，可以通过从其二十个充满液体的气味胶囊中释放颗粒来重现大约 60 种不同的气味。使用该设备的计算机(Computers)将配备软件，以识别嵌入在可通过互联网传输的数字文件中的气味识别代码。
数字(Digital)气味技术可以极大地影响众多行业的未来，包括但不限于电影、营销、教育、游戏和音乐——只要我们把它做好。唯一的问题是上述章节中列出的挑战。一旦研究人员能够提供即时、均匀的气味转移和快速消散，数字气味技术可能会更好地工作。反过来，这也可能意味着剧院的一些重建。
由 Swagat Karnany协助并提供意见。
Smell-O-Vision: Can & How Will Digital Scent Technology Work
Do you know that three-quarters of our еmotions are affected by our sense of smell? You must haνe heard of aromatherapy. People with different еmotional problems use different аromas to stabilize theіr mоod swings. Mυch can bе written about aromas and their effects but, in this post, we will focus only on digital scent technology. For ease of understanding, we’ll use mоviеs and theaters as exampleѕ.
What is Digital Scent Technology
Imagine how incredible it would be if you could experience the perception of smell during your favorite movie scenes. The addition of this visceral dimension would add so much more depth to a scene. Almost every aspect of a movie-watching experience can be enhanced just by the addition of smell. It would not only intensify our emotions but give the drama a heightened sense of reality.
As such, it can be explained as the numerous and varying attempts of movie theaters and producers to provide an enriched experience of watching movies – by releasing scents/aromas related to what they are viewing on the screen. Different movie theaters and movie producers have tried many methods to reproduce the smell of what is being displayed on the screen. Out of these, Smell-O-Vision gained distinction as it worked for some. Note that it worked “only for some”. It was a failure but when talking of digital scent technology, it becomes necessary to explain what Smell-O-Vision is.
What is Smell-O-Vision?
It was a system designed to release odor so that the viewers could smell what they were visually experiencing on the screen. The appropriate smell was released, in a timely and controlled manner, by pipes connected to individual seats in theaters.
Unfortunately, the system did not work as anticipated. The audience complained that the release of the odor was accompanied by a distracting hissing noise. Also, there was a significant time mismatch between the scene on the screen and the aroma being experienced. In some parts of the theater, the smell was too faint to be recognized.
Working On Digital Scent Technology: Current Hurdles
A question arises here that even after forty years since we put a man on the moon, why does the ability to reproduce odor effectively in movie theaters still elude us?
One of the major reasons for this being that compared to the other senses, the sense of smell is not as well understood. We perceive smell in the same way we perceive any other sense; odor is detected by distinct sensory cells which predominantly reside in a cavity at the back of your nose. A message is triggered to the brain as soon as these cells detect molecules of an odor. Unfortunately, we still do not have a clear picture of how the sensory cells perceive a smell and how does the brain differentiates between different odors. This severely restricts our ability to build a technology that can effectively reproduce odor.
There are other challenges that seem mundane but are tricky nonetheless when it comes to introducing fragrance in movie theatres. For instance, how do you ensure that the odor is uniformly spread across the theatre in a significant amount so as to be noticed by all the viewers at the same time? It also needs to be ensured that the time at which an odor reaches a viewer exactly coincides with the scene being shown on the screen and additionally the smell should quickly dissipate to make way for the next odor.
Research On Digital Scent Technology – Can It Work?
A lot of companies are working on digital scent technology. This will allow us to digitally sense, transmit and reproduce smell. A notable example is “The Scent Dome” which is being tested by a UK-based internet service provider called Telewest Broadband. The device is about the size of a teapot and can reproduce around sixty distinct smells by releasing particles from its twenty liquid-filled odor capsules. Computers using this device will be equipped by software to recognize odor-identifying codes embedded in a digital file that can be transmitted via the internet.
Digital smell technology can immensely influence the future of a plethora of industries including but not limited to movies, marketing, education, games, and music – if only we build it right. The only problems are those listed under challenges in the above sections. Once researchers are able to provide instant, uniform transfer and fast dissipation of smell, the digital scent technology might work better. That, in turn, may mean some reconstruction in theaters as well.
Assisted By & With Inputs From Swagat Karnany.
