Preprint Article Version 1 This version is not peer-reviewed

Microdosing Odors in Virtual Reality for Psychophysiological Stress Training

Version 1 : Received: 7 October 2024 / Approved: 8 October 2024 / Online: 8 October 2024 (10:18:45 CEST)

How to cite: Anheuer, D.; Karacan, B.; Herzog, L.; Weigel, N.; Meyer-Nieberg, S.; Gebhardt, T.; Freiherr, J.; Richter, M.; Leopold, A.; Eder, M.; Hofmann, M.; Renner, K.-H.; Küsel, C. Microdosing Odors in Virtual Reality for Psychophysiological Stress Training. Preprints 2024, 2024100546. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.0546.v1 Anheuer, D.; Karacan, B.; Herzog, L.; Weigel, N.; Meyer-Nieberg, S.; Gebhardt, T.; Freiherr, J.; Richter, M.; Leopold, A.; Eder, M.; Hofmann, M.; Renner, K.-H.; Küsel, C. Microdosing Odors in Virtual Reality for Psychophysiological Stress Training. Preprints 2024, 2024100546. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.0546.v1

Abstract

To better cope with stress in emergencies, emergency personnel undergo virtual reality (VR) stress trainings. Such trainings typically include visual, auditory and sometimes tactile impressions, whereas olfactory stimuli are mostly neglected. This concept paper therefore examines whether odors might be beneficial for further enhancing the experience of presence and immersion into a simulated environment. The aim is to demonstrate the benefits of VR civilian stress trainings for emergency personnel and to investigate the role of odors as stressors by manipulating the degree of perceived psychophysiological stress via olfactory impressions. Moreover, the current paper presents the development and validation of a convenient and portable fragrance dosing system that allows personalized odor presentation in VR. The presented system can transport reproducible small quantities of an air-fragrance mixture close to the human nose using piezoelectric stainless steel micropumps. The results of the fluidic system validation indicate that the micropump is suitable to release odors close to the nose with constant amounts of odor presentation. Furthermore, the theoretical background and the planned experimental design of VR stress training including odor presentation via olfactory VR technology is elucidated.

Keywords

Stress training; olfaction; odor actuator; physiological response; psychological response; personalized odor presentation; micropump; scent dosing; olfactory display; multisensory VR

Subject

Engineering, Other

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