Exploring Visual-Induced Olfactory VR Experiences with Fewer Scent Carriers for Richer Perceived Odor Types

Olfactory feedback enhances immersion in virtual reality (VR), yet its deployment is constrained by the limited number of odor sources. We investigate whether visual cues can influence users' interpretation and affective evaluation of the same physical odor in immersive environments without increasing hardware complexity. We conducted a formative study to identify odor characteristics susceptible to visual reinterpretation, a pre-study to calibrate odor intensity, and a within-subject VR experiment manipulating contour recognizability (concrete vs. abstract) and lighting conditions (achromatic lighting, cool-toned lighting, warm-toned lighting). Participants evaluated virtual objects paired with two base odorants in terms of odor matching, perceptual clarity, and affective responses. Results demonstrate the feasibility of visually guided odor reinterpretation, with an average matching success rate of 80.45% across the three phenylethanol-associated objects. Our findings show that visual design systematically influences users' interpretation of odor categories and their experience of pleasure through ease of recognition, authenticity, and the color atmosphere created by lighting. We further discuss how visual cues can influence odor interpretation and how cross-modal olfactory illusions affect the virtual experience.