Defining Scents: A Systematic Literature Review of Olfactory-based Computing Systems

The human sense of smell is a primal ability that has the potential to reveal unexplored relationships between user behaviors and technology. Humans use millions of olfactory receptor cells to observe the environment around them. Olfaction studies are gaining popularity with the progression of scent delivering (commercial and prototype) devices. This influx of research features various software and hardware designs. Additionally, previous studies have explored numerous target audiences and evaluation methodologies. This article presents a systematic review of pertinent literature that investigates olfactory-based computing (OBC) systems in the field of Human-Computer Interaction. Last, this article highlights state-of-the-art study/system designs, evaluation methods, and offers insights on ways to address current challenges/contributions relevant to OBC technologies.