A new UCL Computer Science study explores how digital tools could help people regain their sense of smell, an often-overlooked ability that affects one in five people across Western populations.
Loss of smell can significantly impact wellbeing, affecting everything from food enjoyment to detecting danger. While digital smell training (DST) is emerging as a promising rehabilitation method, it often requires long-term commitment with uncertain progress. Researchers from UCL’s Multi-Sensory Devices team asked: how can we make that journey easier and more motivating?
Their latest pictorial paper, presented at the ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS), investigates how data visualisation could help people stay motivated and engaged with smell training over time.
Drawing on co-design workshops and focus groups, the team identified eight key design directions. These include showing adherence progress first (rather than olfactory perception results results), blending abstract and figurative visuals, capturing real-world scent experiences, and highlighting community trends to help users feel less isolated.
“Smell training progress can be frustratingly invisible. Our goal was to conceptualise design interfaces that shine a light on what matters most to those going on the journey of smell recovery, including celebrating small wins, focussing on daily habits, and reducing the feeling of isolation.” explains lead authors Ceylan Beşevli and Ana Marques, also adding:
“The most valuable outcomes of our work are the insights co-developed with participants, which point to new ways of supporting motivation and care through design within digital health platforms.”
Image: Ana Marques presenting the study at the ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS) 2025, in Madeira, Portugal.
The team argues that motivational, user-friendly visuals could make DST more accessible and effective, helping more people stick with it and potentially aiding early detection of conditions like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, where smell loss is often an early sign.
The paper, authored by Ceylan Beşevli, Ana Marques, Giada Brianza, Christopher Dawes*, and Professor Marianna Obrist, builds on the Smell Care project, funded by EPSRC and NIHR, and was developed in collaboration with healthcare experts, industry partners and people with lived experience.
“This research shows the power of data design in shaping health behaviours,” says Prof Obrist. “It opens up new possibilities not just for smell rehabilitation, but for other digital health interventions too.”
About the project
The work forms part of the I-smell: Engaging Users in Smell Self-Care at Home initiative, funded by EPSRC and NIHR (EP/W031574/1), and builds on the ERC Proof-of-Concept SmellHealth award. The research was supported by collaborators from Fifth Sense, Future Care Capital, and Hynt Labs Limited (formerly OWidgets), which developed the Smell Care App that is the foundation of the design exploration (see https://www.hynt.net/). It is also informed by UCL’s Swarm Social Sound Modulators project.
*Christopher Dawes is also affiliated with Hynt Labs Limited
Read the paper
Data Visualisation for Motivation in Digital Health Training (ACM Digital Library)
