Abstract
Mindfulness meditation supports psychological wellbeing and stress regulation—factors closely associated with healthy aging and longevity. However, practitioners often struggle to sustain attentional depth over time. While virtual reality (VR) has been explored as a tool for immersive meditation, most systems rely primarily on audiovisual stimuli and overlook olfactory cues despite their strong influence on emotion and environmental perception. This study introduces ScentSync, an olfactory-enhanced VR meditation system integrating AI-generated environments with synchronized scent delivery. A controlled experiment with 54 experienced meditators compared traditional meditation (Non-VR), VR meditation (VR), and olfactory-enhanced VR meditation (VR+Olfactory). Results show that the VR+Olfactory group achieved significantly higher Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) scores (p < 0.01) and reported greater presence and enjoyment than both comparison groups. These findings highlight the importance of multisensory design in contemplative technologies and provide design insights for immersive wellbeing systems that support sustained mindfulness practice and dignified longevity.
Keywords
Design for longevity, Multisensory interaction, Virtual reality meditation, Olfactory interfaces
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.672
Citation
Xia, L., Li, X., Li, D., and Fan, L. (2026) Design for dignified longevity: Olfactory-enhanced VR meditation for sustained mindfulness practice, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.672
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Design for dignified longevity: Olfactory-enhanced VR meditation for sustained mindfulness practice
Mindfulness meditation supports psychological wellbeing and stress regulation—factors closely associated with healthy aging and longevity. However, practitioners often struggle to sustain attentional depth over time. While virtual reality (VR) has been explored as a tool for immersive meditation, most systems rely primarily on audiovisual stimuli and overlook olfactory cues despite their strong influence on emotion and environmental perception. This study introduces ScentSync, an olfactory-enhanced VR meditation system integrating AI-generated environments with synchronized scent delivery. A controlled experiment with 54 experienced meditators compared traditional meditation (Non-VR), VR meditation (VR), and olfactory-enhanced VR meditation (VR+Olfactory). Results show that the VR+Olfactory group achieved significantly higher Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) scores (p < 0.01) and reported greater presence and enjoyment than both comparison groups. These findings highlight the importance of multisensory design in contemplative technologies and provide design insights for immersive wellbeing systems that support sustained mindfulness practice and dignified longevity.