Internet of Senses Podcast

Internet of Senses Institute

Led by a team of technology enthusiasts and experts, the Internet of Senses Institute is your gateway to this imminent, interconnected future. We are a community of thought leaders, inventors, and early adopters who are passionate about taking part in the evolution of human senses and shaping this new era of innovation. Check out more information on Internetofsenses.com

  1. May 22

    Sam Wisniewski & Sarah Socia: The Future of Smell in Gaming, VR & Immersive Technology

    Join Smell Expert Sofia Ehrich as she interviews Sam Wisniewski and Sarah Socia from OVR Technology. In this interview, they discuss the intersection of smell & gaming and how OVR's product is applicable across multiple genres of immersive gaming experiences.  Sam Wisniewski is a Co-Founder and President at OVR Technology, where he works to bring scent into digital media and immersive experiences. His career spans investment banking, hospitality operations, and fragrance formulation, giving him a multidisciplinary perspective on business, sensory experience, and emerging technology. Before OVR, Wisniewski founded a boutique flavor and fragrance company developing products for food, beverage, and personal care brands. Today he leads operations, strategy, and commercialization efforts as OVR prepares to launch consumer scent technology that enables developers and creators to add smell to digital content. Sarah Socia is Director of Fragrance Innovation and R&D at OVR Technology, where she develops scent cartridges and olfactory delivery systems for immersive digital experiences. With a background spanning chemosensory research, fragrance development, and life sciences consulting, she brings a scientific perspective to how scent can be thoughtfully designed and applied within digital content, translating the science of smell into innovative scent technologies. Link to the kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/omara/the-omara-scent-display-for-gaming/comments Link to Website: https://www.ovrtechnology.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ovromara/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ovromara Twitter: https://x.com/OVROmara

    54 min
  2. Feb 26

    Leslie Kay: The Hidden Science of How Smell, Breath & Memory Shape the Brain

    Join Smell Expert Sofia Ehrich as she interviews Leslie Kay, professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Chicago and member and former director of the University’s Institute for Mind and Biology. In this interview, they discuss Leslie's research in olfaction primarily with rats and how it has evolved over her career. Leslie Kay is a professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Chicago and a member and former director of the University’s Institute for Mind and Biology. Her research addresses the roles that personal history, present context, breath, and chemistry play in shaping dynamic responses in brains and behavior centered around the sense of smell. Her laboratory focuses on brain dynamics through neural oscillations that engage olfaction, taste, memory and respiratory systems. New work from her laboratory also examines sex differences in olfactory physiology and behavior. While she primarily uses rats as a model system, she is now collaborating with colleagues to address neural questions in human olfaction and cognitive health. Dr. Kay has served on numerous advisory boards for the NIH, NSF and AChemS. She comes to the sense of smell with a background in Philosophy and Mathematics from St. John’s College (Santa Fe, NM) and a PhD in Biophysics from UC Berkeley. She is a fierce advocate for liberal education and reading real books. At the University of Chicago, she also serves as Deputy Dean for Research in the Social Sciences. She is working on a popular book on smell under contract with Basic Books and Penguin UK (expected publication late 2027).

    42 min
  3. 11/17/2025

    Miles Spencer on Mentorship, Resilience & Creating 1,100 Jobs – IOSI Podcast

    Join Hearing Expert Tyler Heaton as he interviews Miles Spencer. In this interview, they discuss Miles' long history of entrepreneurship and his current venture integrating AI with historical sound archives.  Miles Spencer is a curious Pittsburgh native who has asked a lot of questions—and followed them a long way from home. For more than 30 years, he has mentored tech founders, discovering along the way that guiding ambitious entrepreneurs isn’t all that different from raising his own kids, whom he has been parenting for 11 years. His career spans the creation of more than 1,100 jobs through founding, financing, building, and exiting three digital media companies. Before that, he served as a Venture Principal at Capital Express (register.com), hosted MoneyHunt on PBS before the era of Shark Tank, and once led over 1,500 people across 14 miles of open sea by kayak. He also trekked 1,100 miles through the deserts of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria—an expedition chronicled in A Line in the Sand, which went on to become an Amazon bestseller in the Middle East. Following a pandemic-era reset, Miles is now actively investing and directly managing teams across digital media, entertainment, and consumer products. Outside of work, he can often be found painting watercolors with his daughter or playing rugby with his son. And, as his friends often note, his distinctive brand of English sometimes requires translation—but it’s all part of the adventure.

    43 min

About

Led by a team of technology enthusiasts and experts, the Internet of Senses Institute is your gateway to this imminent, interconnected future. We are a community of thought leaders, inventors, and early adopters who are passionate about taking part in the evolution of human senses and shaping this new era of innovation. Check out more information on Internetofsenses.com