Today's virtual reality (VR) applications such as gaming, multisensory entertainment, remote dining, and online shopping are mainly based on audio, visual, and touch interactions between humans and virtual worlds. Integrating the sense of taste into VR is difficult since humans are dependent on chemical-based taste delivery systems. This paper presents the 'Thermal Taste Machine', a new digital taste actuation technology that can effectively produce and modify thermal taste sensations on the tongue. It modifies the temperature of the surface of the tongue within a short period of time (from 25°C to 40°C while heating, and from 25°C to 10°C while cooling). We tested this device on human subjects and described the experience of thermal taste using 20 known (taste and non-taste) sensations. Our results suggested that rapidly heating the tongue produces sweetness, fatty/oiliness, electric taste, warmness, and reduces the sensibility for metallic taste. Similarly, cooling the tongue produced mint taste, pleasantness, and coldness. By conducting another user study on the perceived sweetness of sucrose solutions after the thermal stimulation, we found that heating the tongue significantly enhances the intensity of sweetness for both thermal tasters and non-thermal tasters. Also, we found that faster temperature rises on the tongue produce more intense sweet sensations for thermal tasters. This technology will be useful in two ways: First, it can produce taste sensations without using chemicals for the individuals who are sensitive to thermal taste. Second, the temperature rise of the device can be used as a way to enhance the intensity of sweetness. We believe that this technology can be used to digitally produce and enhance taste sensations in future virtual reality applications. The key novelties of this paper are as follows: 1. Development of a thermal taste actuation technology for stimulating the human taste receptors, 2. Characterization of the thermal taste produced by the device using taste-related sensations and non-taste related sensations, 3. Research on enhancing the intensity for sucrose solutions using thermal stimulation, 4. Research on how different speeds of heating affect the intensity of sweetness produced by thermal stimulation.

This workshop aims to increase awareness of the different ways in which new technologies (e.g. social media, virtual reality, digital, and neuroimaging technologies) can be used as input or means to develop multisensory experiences that improve consumer satisfaction. Consumers experience products and services via their senses (i.e. sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch). The specific multisensory content of those products and services can influence people's respective attitudes, purchase intentions, and consumption. Today, consumers experiment the world through new technologies, for example, by sharing their feelings via social media, or by creating avatar in a virtual world. The challenge for marketing consists of monitoring new technologies to better understand consumer sensory experiences and to develop innovative actions that will help to improve these experiences. We will begin with the definition of sensory marketing and the role of multisensory processes in consumer experience. Second, we will address the possibility of better understanding the consumer through social media and neuroimaging technologies. To finish, we will present some technologies that are already enriching sensory experiences of consumers.

The digital stimulation of smell is considered as a useful step in expanding the technology related to multisensory communication. Previous methods for activating the sensation of smell chemically, has obvious disadvantages such as being complex, expensive and lower controllability. In this paper, we propose a digital interface for actuating smell sensations. This is done by stimulating the olfactory receptors of the nasal conchae using weak electrical pulses. The sensitivity and effectiveness of electrical stimulation on human smell receptors will be studied by using different current and frequency parameters with real users.

Artificially reproducing smell sensations, without using chemical odorants, would change the future multisensory internet experiences. This article presents a computer-controlled smell reproduction technology proposed for stimulating human olfactory receptors, using weak electric pulses. We developed a concept prototype that can generate rectangular-shaped weak electrical pulses in different frequencies (0–30 kHz), duty cycles (0–100%), and currents (1–5 mA). This prototype is tested by stimulating the middle nasal concha region of 31 healthy human participants. During our studies, 8 participants reported chemical and fragrant smell sensations for the stimulation parameters 1 mA with 70 Hz. For 1 mA with 10 Hz, 8 participants reported sweet smell sensation, while 6 participants reported chemical smell sensations. The key novelties of this paper include: 1. describe the development of the first computer controlled digital device for stimulating the olfactory receptor neurons, 2. Testing this new technology on human subjects including the parameters that were not previously tested, 3. Recording the intensities for 22 types of sensations (smell-related and non-smell-related) that could be produced by the electrical stimulation. 4. investigate users’ perception on the usefulness of this type of technology.