In immersive virtual‐reality (VR) environments, users typically rely almost exclusively on visual information, which can limit both presence and realism. In this study, we investigated whether olfactory and auditory cues could compensate for the res...
In immersive virtual‐reality (VR) environments, users typically rely almost exclusively on visual information, which can limit both presence and realism. In this study, we investigated whether olfactory and auditory cues could compensate for the restricted visual information inherent to Portal‐based locomotion. Two experiments were conducted to assess the effects of multisensory stimulation on spatial and object recognition. Experiment 1 involved 27 participants who were asked to select, from among four VR Portals, the environment best matching a given description (e.g.,“forest trail”). Four sensory conditions were tested: visual only (V), visual + olfactory (VO), visual + auditory (VA), and visual + auditory + olfactory (VAO). One‐way ANOVA revealed a significant effect of sensory condition on identification accuracy (p < .01), with the VAO condition yielding the highest mean accuracy and the V condition the lowest. Experiment 2 recruited 10 participants to identify objects passing through a Portal under the same four sensory conditions. Analysis showed a statistically significant improvement in accuracy for the VAO condition compared to V (p < .05). Together, these findings demonstrate that multisensory integration— particularly the simultaneous provision of olfactory and auditory cues— substantially enhances spatial and object recognition in VR Portals when visual information is limited. This work underscores the importance of incorporating olfactory and auditory stimuli in VR design to bolster immersion and usability.
Keywords: Virtual Reality, Multisensory, Olfactory device