Taste controller: galvanic chin stimulation enhances, inhibits, and creates tastes

Abstract

Galvanic tongue stimulation (GTS) is a technology used to change and induce taste sensation with electrical stimulation. It is known from previous studies that cathodal current stimulation induces two types of effects. The first is the taste suppression that renders the taste induced by electrolytic materials weaker during the stimulation. The second is taste enhancement that makes taste stronger shortly after ending the stimulation. These effects stand a better possibility to affect the ability to emulate taste, which can ultimately control the strength of taste sensation with freedom. Taste emulation has been considered in various applications, such as in virtual reality, in diet efforts, and in other applications. However, conventional GTS is associated with some problems. For example, the duration of taste enhancement is too short for use in diet efforts, and it necessitates the attachment of electrodes in the mouth. Moreover, conventional GTS cannot induce taste at the throat but at the mouth instead. Thus, this study and our associated demonstration introduces some approaches to address and solve these problems. Our approaches realize that taste changes voluntarily and the effects persist for lengthy periods of time.