Gustatory interface: the challenges of ‘how’ to stimulate the sense of taste

Gustatory interfaces have gained popularity in the field of human computer interaction, especially in the context of augmenting gaming and virtual reality experiences, but also in the context of food interaction design enabling the creation of new eating experiences. In this paper, we first review prior works on gustatory interfaces and particularly discuss them based on the use of either a chemical, electrical and/or thermal stimulation approach. We then present two concepts for gustatory interfaces that represent a more traditional delivery approach (using a mouthpiece) versus a novel approach that is based on principles of acoustic levitation (contactless delivery).We discuss the design opportunities around those two concepts in particular to overcome challenges of "how" to stimulate the sense of taste.