IAS Book Launch: Multisensory Experiences

We welcome authors Marianna Obrist and Carlos Velasco for the launch of their book Multisensory Experiences: Where the Senses meet Technolog

ABOUT THE BOOK
Most of our everyday life experiences are multisensory in nature, they consist of what we see, hear, feel, taste, smell, and much more. Almost any experience, such as eating a meal or going to the cinema, involves a magnificently complex sensory world.

In recent years, many of these experiences have been increasingly transformed through technological advancements such as multisensory devices and intelligent systems. This book takes the reader on a journey that begins with the fundamentals of multisensory experiences, moves through the relationship between the senses and technology, and finishes by considering what the future of those experiences might look like, and our responsibility in it.

This book describes key concepts and provides a lot of practical examples to illustrate the opportunities around designing multisensory experiences. This is the second edition of the book; the 1st Edition was published 2020 just when the pandemic transformed how we think about digital technology and how important sensory interactions are.

Multisensory Experiences: Where the Senses meet Technology was published in April 2025 by Oxford University Press: Multisensory Experiences - Carlos Velasco, Marianna Obrist - Oxford University Press
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Marianna Obrist is Professor of Multisensory Interfaces in the Department of Computer Science at UCL and the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Hynt Labs Limited. Her research investigates the integration of touch, taste, and smell as interaction modalities in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), with applications spanning VR, automotive, and health/wellbeing. Her most recent projects include an EPSRC/NIHR Smell Care project that validated a digital smell training solution through a real-world deployment; an EU FET Touchless.AI project studying novel touchless interfaces for social interaction, a UKRI TCC - Textile Circularity Centre, and an InnovateUK project OWSleep on developing digital scent tech for improved sleep quality. She published over 100 articles, including in high impact journals like Nature Scientific Report, and leading HCI journals like Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (ToCHI), International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, and the premier HCI conferences ACM UIST, CHI. https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/78441-marianna-obrist

Carlos Velasco is Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing at BI Norwegian Business School, where he co-founded the Centre for Multisensory Marketing. He received his D.Phil. in Experimental Psychology from Oxford University, after which he worked in a number of postdoctoral and consulting projects in Europe, Asia, and North and South America. His work is situated at the intersection between Psychology, Marketing, and Human–Computer Interaction, and focuses on understanding, and capitalising on, our multisensory experiences and their guiding principles. Carlos has worked with a number of companies from around the world on topics such as multisensory experiences, food and drink, branding, and consumer research. https://carlosvelasco.info/