Exploring the Effects of Olfactory Cues and Ventilation on Teleportation-based Navigation in VR

Abstract

Spatial cognition supports how people interpret spatial relationships and navigate their surroundings. Although vision plays a dominant role, other sensory modalities, including olfaction, may also contribute under limited visual conditions. This paper investigates the role of olfactory cues in location recognition during virtual reality (VR) navigation. We conducted two formal studies using a wearable olfactory prototype. Study 1 examined whether olfactory cues and ventilation influenced users' recognition of encountered locations during \HDY{teleportation-} and dash-based navigation. Study 2 extended this investigation to repeated navigation and examined whether ventilation duration influenced recognition performance and user experience across successive movements. Results show that olfactory cues can support recognition of encountered locations during navigation, while ventilation was associated with reduced residual interference and improved usability. However, longer ventilation did not clearly improve recognition accuracy in repeated navigation. These findings suggest the potential of olfactory cues as contextual signals during VR navigation, while also highlighting the importance of scent management for maintaining perceptual clarity and user comfort.