January 19, 2023 — The new trend of scent-infused virtual reality could be exciting news for healthcare as well as gaming.
Using virtual reality to help patients manage pain, overcome phobias, and relieve anxiety. Healthcare providers and patients report generally good results, save for the high price tag. VR therapy could also become more popular, especially as insurance companies start to pay for it.
But despite its potential in healthcare, VR continues to fall short in one respect.
“[Smell] Dr. Judith Amores, Senior Research Fellow at Microsoft Research and a research affiliate of the MIT Media Lab, said:
Amores has been researching how to combine VR and smell to enhance human response.of 1 experiment, she had participants wear a VR headset depicting a serene natural scene and a smart necklace she developed that could emit the scent of lavender. , participants reported feeling 26% more relaxed than without the scent. A device that monitors brain activity confirmed it: participants’ physiological responses increased by 25% when scent was added.
Although the study was small (only 12 people), Amores says it represents a direction that needs to be explored with more people in peer-reviewed research. 2022 systematic review Her research on multi-sensory virtual reality drives her.
we smell something, receptor cells in the nose send messages to the olfactory bulb at the base of the brain. That information is sent to the amygdala and hippocampus, brain regions that process memory and emotions, he explains Amores.
“Olfaction goes directly into the emotional centers of the brain,” says Amores. “That means you can literally change your mood based on what you’re smelling.”
In this way, smell has the power to immerse us deeply in virtual reality, making VR treatments faster and more effective, says Amores.
New olfactory technology could advance research
Medical research in this area may be lagging behind, but efforts in the entertainment industry could help move it forward. That may change this year.
At the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this month, Vermont-based OVR Technology unveiled a headset with eight primary aromas that can be combined to create thousands of scents. Did. ION3, as its name suggests, Scheduled for release later this year.
Meanwhile, research published in journals International Journal of Human Computer Studies Learn about the smell machine tested on tech giant HTC’s virtual reality headset. The researchers suggest that such technology, among other uses, could help enhance “olfactory training” for people who have lost their sense of smell due to COVID-19.
Enhancing VR Therapy with Smell
Smell-enhanced VR therapy could be used for all kinds of clinical applications, Amores said. Sleeping disorderor Alzheimer’s disease (smells are associated with memory).
VR “exposure therapy” has already been used to treat PTSD in veterans, immersing them in virtual environments that induce trauma memories, desensitizing them to their thoughts and making them feel safe. Let them learn.Articles for 2021 in brain research He noted that it was “extremely necessary” to incorporate smells into such treatments, as smells can trigger traumatic memories more intensely than sounds in some cases. According to the paper, unpleasant scents (such as diesel fuel or the smell of something burning) can be gradually added or layered with relaxing scents such as pine, eucalyptus, and cinnamon to reduce or eliminate odor triggers. You can
People with addictions may also benefit from VR exposure therapy by learning to manage or resist cravings triggered by specific cues. research Suggest. VR has the power to take you anywhere, whether it’s a bar or a party, and the smell of wine or cigarettes could add the realism needed to elicit your cravings.
Another application could be surgery preparation, Amores said. The patient is doing a full VR session with a relaxing scent. For example, walking in the woods and inhaling the scent of pines and moss. Reduce anxiety before surgerymay reduce the amount of analgesics required and improve outcomes.
These odors can be re-deployed during hospitalization or recovery, with or without VR, to quickly bring the patient back to a calm state. This is a form of Pavlovian conditioning that can be easily replicated, says Amores.
At Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, VR is being researched to treat irritable bowel syndrome and chronic back pain.
Melissa Wong, MD, an OB/GYN specializing in maternal-fetal medicine at Cedars-Sinai, is researching VR for pain and stress relief during labor and delivery, advocating the use of an epidural. You may be delaying.
“There’s something absolute about the mind-body connection when it comes to pain,” says Wong. Adding scent to increase immersion would likely amplify those effects, she adds.
As research continues to highlight the power of the sense of smell, Amores predicts that the sense is increasingly likely to be implemented in clinical practice. It may not be far off.
