Mulsemedia vs. Multimedia: State of the art and future trends

Multimedia has become an ordinary component of modern software and hardware. Sound, graphics, and animation are present at almost every application of both desktop and mobile platforms. However, human senses cover more than two media. Thus, the transition from Multimedia to Mulsemedia (MULtiple SEnsorial MEDIA) is quite natural. Mulsemedia enriches traditional multimedia content with new media objects, such as olfactory, haptic, and thermoceptic ones. Mulsemedia gives new opportunities for immersive technologies and opens new horizons for communication, education, advertising, and medicine. However, new media demand new technological solutions implemented as both hardware and software. The paper gives an overview on existing standards, hardware, and software that can support transition from Multimedia to Mulsemedia as well as on future trends that can have positive impact on the development of mulsemedia-based technologies.