The Health and Wellness Implications of Adding Scent to Virtual Reality - Aaron Wisniewski & Dr. Rachel Herz of OVR Technology

It’s not hard to start feeling relaxed when you experience a virtual reality visit to a mountain top, taking in the beautiful views of forested peaks and valleys and hearing the rustling breeze. You can actually feel transported from the real world.  But imagine how much more transporting it would be if you could also smell the pine trees? Well, now you can, thanks to OVR Technology, a Vermont-based company that has overcome substantial technical challenges to seamlessly add scent to the VR and AR experience. “Research has shown quite directly that adding sense of smell to VR tangibly increases presence and immersion and the key factors that everybody is looking for when they experience a VR environment,” says neuroscientist Dr. Rachel Herz, the company’s chief scientific adviser.  And because not everyone has positive associations with scents from the real world, says CEO Aaron Wisniewski, OVR is creating new ones to facilitate the therapeutic impact of the scented VR experience. Both stress that the applications for the technology go well beyond recreational use, and the units are already being deployed in clinical settings with one study showing a major -- and lasting -- drop in levels of pain, stress and anxiety among inpatients after doing just a few short sessions with the OVR headset per week.  Don’t miss this fascinating conversation with host Michael Carrese as we explore how OVR’s groundbreaking technology is adding a powerful new dimension to the virtual world.Mentioned in this episode: https://ovrtechnology.com/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast