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INTRODUCTION
Technology has till date be able to use our sense of site and sound quite successfully
in bringing virtual reality and nearer to reality. Consequently you have realistic-looking
games, and graphic cards that are capable of rendering them; mice that let you
experience the terrain you are traversing, whether in an application, on the internet,
or on a CD-ROM; and sound and music, thanks to MP3 and the like, which bring alive
your experience in the virtual world. Virtual reality has, since the onset several
decades ago, been dominated by visual stimuli, with tactile and auditory information
research and added to the sense in the latter years.
Olfactory information has been mainly ignored as input to the virtual environment
participant, in spite of the fact that olfactory receptors provide such a rich
source of information to the human. To enhance this virtual experience, technology
now targets on nose and tongue for the experience of smell and taste. That is,
you will soon the able to smell and taste the virtual world's offerings, and not
just see or hear them. Now
with the digital scent technology we are able to sense, transmit and receive a
smell-trough the internet, smell a perfume online before buying them, check to
see if food you are buying is fresh, smell burning rubber in your favorite racing
game, or sent scented e-cards from scent enable websites. As this technology gains
mass appeal , there is no stopping it from entering into all areas of virtual
world. Imagine being able to smell things using a device that connects to your
computer. Digital scent technologies is making this a reality. There
is a complete software and hardware solution for scenting digital media and user.
It includes a personal scent synthesize for reproducing and electronic nose for
the detection of the smell. These two peripheral components connected to the computer
and the communication network for the transmission of the digitized smell data
does comprise the digital scent technology and communication. Digital
scent technology digitizes the scent by digitizing the scent along two parameters
the chemical make and its place in scent spectrum then digitized into a small
file which can be transmitted to the internet attached to the enhanced web content.
Then with the help of digital synthesizer connected to the computer the transmitter
scent can be reproduce from the palette of primary odors following the guidelines
of the digital file. Digital
scent technologies find its wide range of applications in scentertinment-movies,
music and games, in communication which includes websites which is enhanced with
scent. It also has its relevance in E-commerce which will make online-shopping
compelling and fun. This technology also helps in advertising fields in making
the advertisement more memorable and engaging. Many companies working in the field
of digital scent technologies are developing a new technology for identifying
dementing brain disorders, including Alzheimer's, Hunting tone's, and parkingson's
and for differentiating them from other mental disorders. This method is based
on detecting the olfactory deficits that are diagnostic of the deminating diseases.
Physiological
Aspects Of Smell
Olfaction
is defined as the act of smelling, where as to smell is to receive the scent of
something by means of the olfactory nerves. Odorants are substances who characteristics
can be determined by chemical analysis. A person's olfactory system operates in
a fashion similar to other sensing processes in the body. Air bone molecules of
volatile substances come in contact with membranes of receptor sells located in
the upper part of the nostrils. The olfactory epithelium, the smell organ covers
a 4-10 cm^2 area and consists of 6-10 million olfactory hairs, cilia, that detect
different smells of compounds. Excited receptors send pulses to the olfactory
bulbs, a part of cortex with a pattern of receptors activity indicating a particular
scent. Because
the airways are bent and thus the airflow past the receptors normally is low,
we sniff something to get a better sensation. In addition to the cilia, the fifth
cranial nerve (trigeminal)has free nerve endings distributed through out the nasal
cavity. These nerve endings serve as a chemoreceptor and react to irritating and
burning sensations. The trigeminal nerve connects to different region of the brain
and provides the pathway for initiation of protective reflexes such as sneezing
and interruption of inhalation. If the concentration is high enough both the olfactory
and trigeminal sensors will be triggered by most odorants.
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