# Could technology expand digital media beyond sight and sound?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-technology-expand-digital-media-beyond-sight-and-sound/234993
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 18, 2004, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-technology-expand-digital-media-beyond-sight-and-sound/234993 "2004-03-18T05:58:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2004, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-technology-expand-digital-media-beyond-sight-and-sound/234993/1 "2004-03-18T05:58:59Z")
There are obvious boundaries to digital information conveyance, at least today, but could there be an advance that might breach another of the 5 senses? I don’t count braille machines, to me that’s still analog. Any thoughts?
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2004, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-technology-expand-digital-media-beyond-sight-and-sound/234993/2 "2004-03-18T06:07:00Z")
[Digital air freshener dispensers?](http://www.airdelights.com/aerosol.html)
[Electronic aromatherapy diffusers?](http://www.sunrosearomatics.com/catalog/diffusers.html)
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### Author:  [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2004, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-technology-expand-digital-media-beyond-sight-and-sound/234993/3 "2004-03-18T07:30:50Z")
I fail to see the proof. How can smell be represented digitally? I’d prefer scientific cites, rather than olfactory ones. Thanks though.
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2004, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-technology-expand-digital-media-beyond-sight-and-sound/234993/4 "2004-03-18T07:51:17Z")
There are amusement park rides and flight simulators where the seat is mounted on computer-controlled gymbals. So body orientation (i.e. inner ear) is one sense that can be recorded and reproduced digitally.
Also some aspects of “touch” are easy to reproduce, namely temperature, wind and tactile feedback.
I’d guess taste is easy - it’s just 5 parameters so a machine can reproduce any combination. The only problem is that in the broad sense, “taste” relies heavily on smell and food texture, which are difficult to quantify and even harder to reproduce.
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2004, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-technology-expand-digital-media-beyond-sight-and-sound/234993/5 "2004-03-18T07:55:13Z")
> [@dnooman](#):
>
> I don’t count braille machines, to me that’s still analog.
This is plain stupid. _Why_ is this technology analog and not digital?
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### Author:  [@MC\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_E)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2004, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-technology-expand-digital-media-beyond-sight-and-sound/234993/6 "2004-03-18T11:34:38Z")
Would that be digital because you use your fingers to read it? 😃
I am not terribly familiar with braille, but if there is a fixed arrangement of locations, similar to pixels, and certain ones being on and off form the characters, then I would say it is digital. If it is more like handwriting, then I would say analog. Is it possible to write braille by hand?