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Enhancing saltiness with cathodal current
Abstract
Weak cathodal current applied to the tongue inhibits the taste of salt, but perceived saltiness tends to increase after the current is released. In this study, we propose a saltiness enhancer that uses this phenomenon. Our system applies weak cathodal current for a short time when the user eats or drinks. The user can thus perceive a salty taste without the use of salt.
... Furthermore, by incorporating the same stimulation presentation mechanism into cups, chopsticks, and bowls, they could enhance the saltiness of food and drinks (Ranasinghe et al., 2017;Ranasinghe et al., 2019). Nakamura and Miyashita proposed a method for enhancing saltiness using cathodal stimulation by placing the cathode near the tongue and anode on the human body, such as the hand or arm (Nakamura and Miyashita, 2013b). Cathodal stimulation suppresses saltiness during presentation and increases saltiness at the time of stopping (Nakamura and Miyashita, 2013a). ...
Electric tastes can present various taste modulation effects using stimulation waveforms. Presenting and stopping cathodal stimulation or presenting anodal stimulation, for example, can enhance the saltiness of foods and drinks. If the taste of low-sodium foods improves because of these effects, it can provide low-sodium dieters with both mental satisfaction and nutritional health benefits. However, no studies on the effect of saltiness enhancement on electric taste in low-sodium dieters have been conducted. In this study, we first designed and investigated a stimulation waveform suitable for saltiness enhancement of low-sodium foods. This stimulation waveform combined the effects of presenting and stopping cathodal stimulation and presenting anodal stimulation and showed a saltier enhancement than the existing waveforms. Next, we conducted an experiment with individuals who were or had been on a low-sodium diet. In this experiment, the effect of saltiness enhancement on the proposed stimulation waveform was investigated using saltwater gel samples with the same saltiness as low-sodium and ordinary foods. The results suggest that presenting the proposed stimulation waveform when eating foods with a 30% reduction in salt content can present a saltiness equivalent to that of ordinary foods. Furthermore, the discomfort caused by electrical stimulation was not severe enough to be a problem for most participants. Finally, assuming the use of electric tastes in daily life, this study attempted to qualitatively analyze the changes in saltiness intensity and flavor of low-sodium miso soup.
... They apply electric current through isotonic drinks and juicy foods to change the taste perception of them by pulsing voltage and amplitude input. In his later research, Nakamura propose a saltiness enhancer by applying weak cathodal current for a short time when the user eats or drinks [195]. However other perceptions such as sourness and bitterness was also perceived. ...
Our goal is to transform Internet and virtual reality communication into a multisensory experience by the digitization of the smell and taste senses. This will allow people to create, communicate, and regenerate multisensory information. This book was written in an attempt to present the state of the art in research in multisensory communication. Both human sense of smell and taste performs an important role in enhancing one’s everyday life experiences through emotions and memory. The memory of smell and taste lasts longer than memory attained verbally. Studies have shown that smell and taste senses are directly associated with one’s mood, stress, retention, and memory functions. The use of the Internet as a communication medium grew rapidly across the past two decades. To pursue the next stage of the Internet, humans should not only communicate using visual, audio, and tactile stimuli but also with smell …
... They apply electric current through isotonic drinks and juicy foods to change the taste perception of them by pulsing voltage and amplitude input. In his later research, Nakamura propose a saltiness enhancer by applying weak cathodal current for a short time when the user eats or drinks [195]. However other perceptions such as sourness and bitterness was also perceived. ...
Olfaction (sense of smell), from evolutionary perspective is one of the most ancient chemical senses by Auffarth (Neurosci Biobehav Rev 37(8):1667–1679, 2013, [1]), however, they remain in many ways the least understood of the sensory modalities. This chapter presents the general review of this very important chemical sense.
... They apply electric current through isotonic drinks and juicy foods to change the taste perception of them by pulsing voltage and amplitude input. In his later research, Nakamura propose a saltiness enhancer by applying weak cathodal current for a short time when the user eats or drinks [195]. However other perceptions such as sourness and bitterness was also perceived. ...
This chapter is a general review on the science of taste. Taste, is among the five long established senses classified under the sensory system. It is the key sensory sense through which we assess if a particular food is good or harmful. Taste is the sensation produced typically in the tongue when a substance reacts chemically with taste receptor cells situated on taste buds in the mouth.
... They apply electric current through isotonic drinks and juicy foods to change the taste perception of them by pulsing voltage and amplitude input. In his later research, Nakamura propose a saltiness enhancer by applying weak cathodal current for a short time when the user eats or drinks [195]. However other perceptions such as sourness and bitterness was also perceived. ...
Technology in communication is rapidly growth in the past years. Scientist and researchers are competing to give the best way of connecting people through communication. Currently, our daily lives are deeply ingrained with digital communication and the technology now have been develop until all human senses could be digitize to have more interactive experience. Most of our daily activities can be captured, shared and experienced as images, audio, and video using digital devices. When we watch a movie, we experience the stimulation of sights and sounds. Then what about the sense of smell? This project presents the first digital technology developed for transmission of smell through digital networks. The digital stimulation of smell is considered as a useful step in expanding the technology related to multisensory communication. Previous methods for activating the sensation of smell chemically, has obvious disadvantages such as being complex, expensive and lower controllability. Most importantly, smells exist in molecular forms making it impossible to communicate over a distance. Therefore, generating smell sensations without chemicals is becoming highly significant for our increasingly digitized world. We propose a digital interface for actuating smell sensations. This is done by stimulating the olfactory receptors of the nasal concha using weak electrical pulses.
... They apply electric current through isotonic drinks and juicy foods to change the taste perception of them by pulsing voltage and amplitude input. In his later research, Nakamura propose a saltiness enhancer by applying weak cathodal current for a short time when the user eats or drinks [195]. However other perceptions such as sourness and bitterness was also perceived. ...
To pursue the next stage of the internet, humans should not only communicate emotions with visual, audio, and tactile stimuli but also with taste (gustation). Humans will want to share these stimuli collectively as an experience digitally, like they currently do with the visual and audio media on the internet. We want to propose the idea of gustation creating and experiencing digital representation of taste sensation. However, a new methodology is first needed to digitally stimulate the sense of taste to enable internet communication of the sense. We propose an electrical tongue stimulation device, which the user places in their mouth to produce taste sensations. This technique operates by inducing weak electric signals by changing frequency and Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) produced by the circuitry. Several experiments were carried out to evaluate this approach of digitizing taste sensations. Results from experiments show a new user experience through digital taste stimuli.
... They apply electric current through isotonic drinks and juicy foods to change the taste perception of them by pulsing voltage and amplitude input. In his later research, Nakamura propose a saltiness enhancer by applying weak cathodal current for a short time when the user eats or drinks [195]. However other perceptions such as sourness and bitterness was also perceived. ...
Emerging from the multisensory subject, our goal is to transform Internet communication into a multisensory experience by digitization of the smell and taste senses and as other human senses (sight, hearing, and touch) and allow people to create, communicate, and regenerate this multisensory information over the Internet.
... They apply electric current through isotonic drinks and juicy foods to change the taste perception of them by pulsing voltage and amplitude input. In his later research, Nakamura propose a saltiness enhancer by applying weak cathodal current for a short time when the user eats or drinks [195]. However other perceptions such as sourness and bitterness was also perceived. ...
This chapter presents a new taste device for digital taste communication called ‘Thermal Taste Interface’. It produces thermal taste sensations on the tongue purely by modifying the temperature of the surface of the tongue (from 25 to 40 °C while heating and 25 to 10 °C while cooling) within a short period of time. Our results suggested that rapidly heating the tongue produces sweetness, fatty/oiliness, electric taste, warmness, and reduces the sensibility for metallic taste. Similarly, cooling the tongue produced mint taste, pleasantness, and coldness. By conducting another study on the perceived sweetness for sucrose solutions after the thermal stimulation, we found that heating the tongue significantly enhances the intensity of sweetness for both thermal tasters and non-thermal tasters. Also, we found that faster temperature rises on the tongue produce more intense sweet sensations for thermal tasters. This device offers easy customization options such as rapid heating and cooling, different stimulation speeds, extended temperature range (from 4 to 100 °C), and ability to integrate and control using a software. The sections below discuss the development, technical evaluation, user evaluations, and future work of this device. We believe this technology may can the user experiences related to thermal taste in different disciplines including Human-Computer Interaction, New Media Arts, Communication and Medicine.
... Physical applications have been introduced to enhance saltiness perception. Saltiness intensity of sodium chloride solution increased with the presence of a weak cathodal current to the tongue [5] or by reducing solution temperature. [6] At a more practical level for consumables, several chemical compounds are capable of enhancing the perception of saltiness and is therefore, the preferred method in improving food taste while minimizing sensory quality. ...
The flavor profile, flavor enhancement, and saltiness modulation of Szechuan pepper (Zanthoxylum simulans) were analyzed to evaluate its effectiveness in lowering salt usage. The saltiness enhancing efficiency of Szechuan pepper and its salt-reduction properties were determined to be 28.74% and 22.32%, respectively. The saltiness enhancers were detected in the polar fraction and taste dilution analysis combined with half-tongue test determined the most potent saltiness enhancing components in chromatographic subfractions. Both spectroscopic analysis and sensory evaluation disclosed NaCl as the unexpected primary contributor of saltiness enhancement in this spice. It is the first known study revealing Szechuan pepper’s high salt content.
... So, given the difficulty of transmitting a range of aromas digitally, in the foreseeable future, the best solution may be to augment the taste of real food with cutlery or glassware that is capable of stimulating the taste buds directly (e.g., Bolton, 2016 ;Nakamura and Miyashita, 2011, 2013aOhla et al., 2012;Sakurai et al., 2016a,b ). That way, the real aromas, and flavours, of foods can be enhanced by digital (i.e., electrical) tastes. ...
... So, given the difficulty of transmitting a range of aromas digitally, in the foreseeable future, the best solution may be to augment the taste of real food with cutlery or glassware that is capable of stimulating the taste buds directly (e.g., Bolton, 2015;Nakamura & Miyashita, 2011, 2013aOhla, Toepel, le Coutre, & Hudry, 2012;Sakurai, Aoyama, Miyamoto, Mizukami, Furukawa, Maeda, & Ando, 2016a;Sakurai, Aoyama, Mizukami, Maeda, & Ando, 2016b). That way, the real aromas, and flavours, of foods can be enhanced by digital (i.e., electrical) tastes. ...
Many people are understandably excited by the suggestion that the chemical senses can be digitized; be it to deliver ambient fragrances (e.g., in virtual reality or health-related applications), or else to transmit flavour experiences via the internet. However, to date, progress in this area has been surprisingly slow. Furthermore, the majority of the attempts at successful commercialization have failed, often in the face of consumer ambivalence over the perceived benefits/utility. In this review, with the focus squarely on the domain of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), we summarize the state-of-the-art in the area. We highlight the key possibilities and pitfalls as far as stimulating the so-called ‘lower’ senses of taste, smell, and the trigeminal system are concerned. Ultimately, we suggest that mixed reality solutions are currently the most plausible as far as delivering (or rather modulating) flavour experiences digitally is concerned. The key problems with digital fragrance delivery are related to attention and attribution. People often fail to detect fragrances when they are concentrating on something else; And even when they detect that their chemical senses have been stimulated, there is always a danger that they attribute their experience (e.g., pleasure) to one of the other senses – this is what we call ‘the fundamental attribution error’. We conclude with an outlook on digitizing the chemical senses and summarize a set of open-ended questions that the HCI community has to address in future explorations of smell and taste as interaction modalities.
... Karunanayaka et al. [5] proposed an interface to study how dining behaviors can be enhanced through dynamically changing the weight of foods and eating utensils using magnetic fields. Further, it has been suggested that electrical stimulation of the tongue may generate sour, bitter [12], and salty [7] sensations, and under very specific circumstances, thermal stimulation has resulted in sweet sensations in a few people or enhanced sweetness perception of foods and drinks [3]. Importantly, traditionally underused sensory inputs such as those that pertain to audition in eating contexts are increasingly being involved into food and drink experience design [16,20]. ...
This is an introductory paper for the workshop entitled ‘MultiSensorial Approaches to Human-Food Interaction’ held at ICMI 2016, which took place the 16th of November, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan. Here we discuss our objectives and the relevance of the workshop, and summarize the key contributions of the position papers. We were able to gather a group of researchers from different countries in Europe and Asia who presented their research and discussed the current developments, trends, limitations, and future applications of the field. Whilst this is the first workshop of its kind, we anticipate that the field of multisensory Human-Food Interaction (HFI) will grow in the upcoming years in terms of research and development, and its products will impact our everyday eating experiences
Embedded in everyday practices, food can be a rich resource for interaction design. This article focuses on eating experiences to uncover how bodily, sensory, and socio-cultural aspects of eating can be better leveraged for the design of user experience. We report a systematic literature review of 109 papers, and interviews with 18 professional chefs, providing new understandings of prior HFI research, as well as how professional chefs creatively design eating experiences. The findings inform a conceptual framework of designing for user experience leveraging eating experiences. These findings also inform implications for HFI design suggesting the value of multisensory flavor experiences, external and internal sensory stimulation and deprivation, aspects of eating for communicating meaning, and designing with contrasting pleasurable and uncomfortable experiences. The article concludes with six charts as novel generative design tools for HFI experiences focused on sensory, emotional, communicative, performative, and temporal experiences.
When people eat, the taste is very complex and be influenced easily by other senses. Such as visual, olfactory, and haptic, even past experiences, can affect the human perception, which in turn creates more taste possibilities. We present TransFork, an eating tool with olfactory feedback, which augments the tasting experience with video see-through head-mounted display. Additionally, we design a recipe via preliminary experiments to find out the taste conversion formula, which could enhance the flavor of foods and change the user perception to recognize the food. In this demonstration, we prepare a mini feast with bite-sized fruit, the participants use the TransFork to eat food A and smell the scent of food B stored at the aromatic box via airflow guiding. Before they deliver the food to their mouth, the head-mounted display augmented the color of food B on food A by the QR code on the aromatic box. With this augmented reality techniques and the recipe, the tasting experience could be augmented or enhanced, which is a potential approach and could be a playful used for eating.
In this study, we evaluate the taste intensity of food when a saltiness enhancer is applied, for verifying the effectiveness of our system. In a previous study, we proposed a saltiness enhancer using a cathodal current based on the work of Hettinger et al. However, we received feedback from subjects that other tastes (e.g., sourness and bitterness) are also enhanced. Therefore, we conducted experimental tests to compare the intensity of the fundamental tastes and a metallic taste over three phases: before application of current, during application of current, and after the release of current.
In this paper, we present a system, which could digitally stimulate the sense of taste (gustation) on human. The system utilizes electrical stimulation on human tongue to produce taste sensations. The initial experiments reveal that the method is viable and deserves further developments. This requires further analyses of the properties of electric pulses (current, frequency, and voltage) on tongue along with the stimulating material. The experimental results suggested that sourness, bitterness, and saltiness are the main sensations that could be evoked at present.
Electric taste is a characteristic taste produced when the tongue is electrically stimulated. We have proposed apparatuses to add electric taste to food and drink. An interactive system could be developed to synchronize video contents using the reversibility and instantaneity of electric taste. However, to do so, the presentation time must be determined based on the different latency for the perception of each sense. We measured the latencies for electric taste and visual stimuli as a basic evaluation for a content presentation system in which electric taste and visual content are synchronized.
Effects of cathodal current, which draws cations away from the tongue and drives anions toward the tongue, depend on the ionic content of electrolytes through which the current is passed. To address the role of cations and anions in human salt tastes, cathodal currents of -40 microA to -80 microA were applied to human subjects' tongues through supra-threshold salt solutions. The salts were sodium chloride, sodium bromide, potassium chloride, ammonium chloride, calcium chloride, sodium nitrate, sodium sulfate, sodium saccharin, sodium acetate and sodium benzoate, which taken together encompass salty, bitter, sour and sweet taste qualities. The taste of NaCl, the salty and bitter tastes of the other chloride salts and the taste of NaNO(3) was inhibited, suggesting the current displaced stimulatory cations from salty and bitter receptors. However, bitter tastes of non-halide sodium salts were not inhibited, likely because other bitter receptors respond to anions. A discharge current at cathode-off ubiquitously evoked a metallic taste reminiscent of anodal taste used in clinical electrogustometry. Analogous effects on ambient NaCl responses were recorded from the hamster chorda tympani nerve. Increases in tastes of the saccharin and benzoate anions were not evoked during current flow, suggesting that cathodal current does not carry stimulatory anions to sweet receptors. Cathodal current may selectively inhibit salty and bitter-salty tastes for which proximal stimuli are cations.
Sensory effects of continuous and iterative electrical stimulation of the tongue
- Bujas Z.
Gopalakrishnakone Ponnampalam, Electronic taste stimulation
- Adrian David Nimesha Ranasinghe
- Owen Noel Cheok
- Newton Fernando
- Hideaki Nii