The European project “Restoring Odorant detection and recognition in Smell dEficits” (ROSE), funded under the Excellent Science Future and Emerging Technologies programme (FET Open), was launched with the goal of developing a technology capable of restoring the ability to perceive and recognize smells in people with olfactory disorders. For many individuals, the loss of smell is far more than a minor inconvenience: it means no longer perceiving aromas, flavours, familiar scents or warning signals, with a direct impact on quality of life, emotions and social interactions.
Four years after its launch, ROSE concluded at the end of October, bringing scientific and technological results that represent a true paradigm shift. At the heart of the project was the development of the Digital Olfaction Module, a device combining an olfactory sensor with a stimulation system: the sensor identifies odours in the environment, converts them into a digital signature and then into a stimulation pattern. Through electrical, thermal or mechanical stimulation applied inside the nose, the brain perceives a sensation consistent with the original odour. This technological work was accompanied by a significant effort in basic research to better understand the mechanisms of natural olfaction and the potential of artificial olfaction, bringing together expertise in neuroscience, engineering and design.
Tests carried out on 82 participants, both normosmic and with olfactory loss, showed that people with anosmia can perceive trigeminal stimulation even when they cannot smell odours, opening the way to sensory substitution. The first version of the Digital Olfaction Module enabled volunteers to detect the presence of an odour through electrical stimulation. Discriminating between different odours proved more challenging but can be improved through richer stimulation profiles obtained by combining multimodal stimulations.
In addition to supporting prototyping activities, the team at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, led by Professor Marina Carulli, focused on designing devices using a human-centred approach to guide future generations of technology. Based on the principle that new devices must be acceptable to the people who will use them, seven wearable prototypes, including glasses, necklaces and headsets, were created and tested with patients and anosmia associations through dedicated workshops for collecting preferences and feedback. This direct exchange helped identify user needs and envision realistic solutions for future wearable devices.
The project has thus demonstrated the scientific feasibility of the technology developed, and the long-term goal is to create the first olfactory prosthesis, opening new opportunities in the field of sensory prosthetics and concretely improving the quality of life for those who have lost contact with the world of smells.
