Multisensory Representation of Air Pollution in Virtual Reality: Lessons from Visual Representation

The world is facing the problem of anthropogenic climate change and air pollution. Despite many years of development, already established methods of influencing behaviour remain ineffective. The effect of such interventions is very often a declaration of behaviour change that is not followed by actual action. Moreover, despite intensive information campaigns, many people still do not have adequate knowledge on the subject, are not aware of the problem or, worse, deny its existence. Previous attempts to introduce real change were based on providing information, persuasion or visualisation. We propose the use of multi-sensory virtual reality to investigate the problem more thoroughly and then design appropriate solutions. In this paper, we introduce a new immersive virtual environment that combines free exploration with a high level of experimental control, physiological and behavioural measures. It was created on the basis of transdisciplinary scientific cooperation, participatory design and research. We used the unique features of virtual environments to reverse and expand the idea of pollution pods by Pinsky. Instead of closing participants in small domes filled with chemical substances imitating pollution, we made it possible for them to freely explore an open environment - admiring the panorama of a small town from the observation deck located on a nearby hill. Virtual reality technology enables the manipulation of representations of air pollution, the sensory modalities with which they are transmitted (visual, auditory, tactile and smell stimuli) and their intensity. Participants' reactions from the initial tests of the application showed that it is a promising solution. We present the possibilities of applying the new solution in psychological research and its further design and development opportunities in collaboration with communities and other stakeholders in the spirit of citizen science.