We've got it: Aroma Speaker 60, which reproduces smell

The guys from Aroma Join for the first time presented their Aroma Speaker 60 - a speaker capable of broadcasting not only sound, but also projecting odors at a distance of up to 2 meters.

The creators of Aroma Join say developers can customize their own scents and use the SDK to create custom experiences that combine video with scent to make the overall experience more immersive.

The Metaverse, or at least its early stages, has always focused on just three things - sight, sound and touch. If previously speakers could only reproduce sound, then the Aroma Speaker 60 in some way fills this gap. By capturing both sound and scents, it subconsciously tricks your brain into believing what it sees. You'll see a grassy field and feel more relaxed, even if you don't know it. Or if you see food, your mind will make your tongue salivate.

Flavor launchers have been around for a decade, but if you listen to anyone who's tried them, they'll all tell you the same thing: the technology isn't ready yet. However, the Aroma Speaker 60 breaks this stereotype. It targets a specific area and spreads scents very far (up to 2 meters). This is enough to grab your attention. The smells are distinct, powerful and very dynamic: when the scene changes on the TV or monitor screen, the old scent disappears and a new one appears almost instantly.

While the technology is somewhat of a black box (we won't be told how it works), it boils down to a set of scent modules that are housed in each individual speaker unit, for a total of 10 modules across two speakers. Each module is equipped with 6 cartridges with any essential oils. The speaker (and software on the laptop) uses these 6 cartridges as scent building blocks, creating up to 60 different different scents. Of course, the speakers also produce sound, but it's the scents that really make the gadget stand out.

The guys at AromaJoin have figured out how to precisely mix these 6 base scents to create a whole range of scents, both pleasant and unpleasant. The fragrant aroma of caramel was almost too strong, but the floral scents were wonderful, and the speaker even emitted a herbal scent as the laptop display showed an endless field of green. The scene then switched to a polluted city and you could immediately smell the smoke. The flavors weren't 100% accurate (your mind might tell you they're artificial), but they were on par.

AromaJoin does not currently sell these speakers, but is using them as a proof of concept to attract developers and marketers to build an ecosystem. They have an open source app and system that allows people to create scent profiles for their video content, and hopefully over time AromaJoin will have a whole library that will make the Aroma Speaker 60 a good buy.

Until that happens, the company is selling its VR accessory, the Aroma Shooter Wearable 3, a neck-worn device that works in tandem with headsets like the Meta Quest 3 to make the metaverse more immersive and multi-sensory.