(with Daniel Foster-Smith and Veronica Ranner)

As human emotional sensitivity degrades in a culture of increasing over-stimulation, people may wish to experience simulations of emotions they once felt naturally.

Self-generated facial expressions, such as smiles and frowns, have been found to change a subject's emotional state. (Kleinke, Peterson, & Rutledge, 1998) Though human tears are arguably the most complex and evocative physical embodiments of our emotions, can generated tears also affect our emotional state?

A user wears the device headset as an operator speaks emotional triggers. The emotional triggers are picked up by a hidden microphone, and instigate the device operation, releasing porpanethiol S-oxide, a gas naturally found in onions. The gas is harvested and pumped through the headset to the eyes and nose of the user. As the spoken triggers grow more intense, the device works faster and provides a stronger rush of gas to the user.