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2026.04.14
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[College of Science and Engineering] \Can you change the drinking experience with your "throat"!?/ We have developed a technology that estimates the drinking experience from throat temperature and the amount consumed, and controls it through temperature control.
Key points of the research findings
◇We successfully measured the "throat temperature" and "amount consumed" when a person drinks a beverage, and estimated the "drinking experience" such as "smoothness," "deliciousness," and "comfort" that a person feels.
◇We have developed a wearable device that displays temperature to the throat, demonstrating that it can alter the drinking experience, including how the drink goes down the throat.
◇It has become clear that presenting a temperature that matches the beverage, such as conveying a sense of coolness for cold drinks, improves the drinking experience.
◇ Our paper was accepted for "CHI 2026," a top international conference in the field of human-computer interaction (acceptance rate: 25.3%), and we received the "Honorable Mention Award," which is given only to the top 5% of outstanding research among all accepted papers.
Figure 1. Research Overview Mai Kamibori (Graduate School of Science and Engineering, 2nd year doctoral student, Department of Science and Engineering, Intelligent Informatics Course), Professor Yuichi Ito (College of Science and Engineering Department of Integrated information technology) and their group developed a wearable device that estimates and transforms the "throat feel," "taste" and "comfort" of a drink through throat sensing and temperature presentation.
The research group implemented a system to measure the skin temperature of the larynx and the amount of drink consumed when a person consumes a beverage, and conducted experiments on 31 subjects. As a result, they succeeded in estimating subjective evaluations of "drinking comfort," such as "throat feel," "deliciousness," and "comfort," based on skin temperature changes and the amount of drink consumed, and in modeling the sensations that differ from person to person. Based on this knowledge, we developed a wearable device that can present cold and warm sensations to the larynx.
Experiments conducted on 20 individuals using this device showed that the drinking experience was improved by presenting a temperature to the throat that matched the temperature of the beverage, such as presenting a cold sensation to the throat in response to a cold drink. It was also found that there were individual differences in how the drink was perceived by adjusting the temperature to match the pre-measured individual's throat temperature change during drinking. This indicated that a method that combines "measuring" and "changing" throat sensation may be very effective in providing an optimal eating experience for the individual.
The research results were accepted at ACM CHI2026, the top international conference in the field of human-computer interaction, to be held from April 13, 2026, and received the "Honorable Mention Award," given to the top 5% of all accepted papers.
Figure 1. Research Overview Comments from Professor Yuichi Ito
This research uncovers a novel relationship between throat temperature changes and taste from an informatics perspective, proposing a new method to improve the drinking experience. Particularly important is the focus on the impact of slight temperature changes in the throat on "smoothness" and taste, demonstrating that the experience can be optimized to suit each individual's senses. Moving forward, we aim to create diverse eating experiences by combining this with technologies such as VR, and to expand its applications to various fields, including food development and health maintenance.
Research background
When we enjoy beverages on a daily basis, internal sensations such as the feeling of the drink going down our throats play a crucial role in shaping our taste and satisfaction. If we could sense these sensations using computers, it would be possible to redesign the eating experience itself and apply it to new technologies that enrich and expand our dining experience. However, methods for quantitatively measuring a person's subjective internal state—how they feel—from objective data (such as temperature and intake) have not been sufficiently developed until now.
Therefore, in this study, we focused on the "throat (larynx)" as a new approach to solving this problem. The throat is a place that keenly perceives the sensation of a beverage passing through it. We believed that if we could objectively measure the changes in the throat and create a mechanism to intervene, it would be possible to design unprecedented drinking experiences tailored to individual perceptions.
Figure 2. Wearable device that displays temperature to the throat. Research Contents
The research group developed a new method that integrates two approaches—measuring and altering—to assess the "drinking comfort" sensation, such as how food goes down the throat (larynx). This method was validated through two main experiments.
First, in the first experiment involving 31 participants, we measured changes in throat skin temperature and the amount of fluid consumed when drinking. As a result, we successfully modeled (estimated) subjective "drinking experience," such as "smoothness," on a computer using this data. Further analysis revealed that even when drinking the same beverage, people perceive drinking experience differently.
Next, based on these measurement results, we developed a dedicated wearable device that can directly present temperature (cold or warm) to the throat (Figure 2). Then, we conducted a second experiment with 20 participants, having them drink beverages while applying temperature stimulation to their throats using this device, and we examined how their experience changed. Two discoveries were made from this experiment.
First, it was found that matching the "temperature of the drink" with the "temperature stimulus to the throat"—for example, cooling the throat when drinking a cold drink and warming the throat when drinking a hot drink—improved the overall evaluation of drinkability and taste among all participants.
On the other hand, it became clear that there are individual differences in the magnitude of the effect of this temperature stimulus. Analysis of the "changes in throat temperature during drinking" measured in the first experiment demonstrated that the degree to which temperature stimulation affects the drinking experience differs depending on these individual characteristics.
These results suggest that by starting with the overall approach of "matching the temperature of the beverage to the temperature of the throat," and then fine-tuning the stimulation by combining it with "individual sensory models," it may be possible to create an ideal drinking experience tailored to each individual.
Figure 2. Wearable device that displays temperature to the throat. The impact of research findings on society
(Significance of research results)
The results of this research make it possible to optimize the user's drinking experience and improve the overall experience by adjusting the temperature presentation to the throat according to the individual's sensory characteristics and specific beverage. This is expected to lead to a new approach to enhancing "throat feel" and "deliciousness" without changing the ingredients of the beverage itself, and to result in the design of unprecedented food experiences.
Going forward, we aim to create new dining experiences that realistically reproduce sensations different from those of the actual beverage by dynamically combining visual information and virtual reality (VR) technology. For example, by providing an appropriate warming sensation to the throat when drinking non-alcoholic beverages, we envision reproducing the warmth and deep throat feel unique to alcoholic beverages such as wine and spirits, offering a new drinking experience that everyone can enjoy safely.
Such technologies can not only broaden the ways we enjoy everyday beverages, but also potentially improve satisfaction with health drinks that are low in sugar, and even help support the diets of the elderly and those who are ill.
Special notes
This research was accepted for ACM CHI2026, which will be held in April 2026, and received the "Honorable Mention Award," which is given to the top 5% of all accepted papers.
Title: “Sensing and Modulating the Feel of a Drink: A Personalized Approach via Laryngeal Thermal Feedback”
Authors: Mai Kamihori, Kouyou Otsu, Yuichi Itoh
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790510
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Professor Hideki Sunahara (Keio University) and Professor Masashi Ikenaga (Kyushu Institute of Technology) for their valuable advice in conducting this research. In addition, a portion of this research was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grants JP22K18424 and JP24KJ1917, as well as JST ACT-X and JPMJAX24M3.