Start Sniffing! - Can scientists pair scent and music to enhance mood? Explore the Cyrano!

We all recognize those smells that have the ability to instantly relax us and change our mood. Whether it is the smell of donuts on campus, clean laundry, or salty water at a beach, aromas can catapult us into different places and times. Scent is a powerful sense for humans, and technology is beginning to realize just how profound its impact can be.

A new product, the Cyrano, is attempting to tap into this potential and begin movement that is sure to take over technology in the future.

The Cyrano resembles a small portable music speaker, but it has one important feature that distinguishes it from the Bose devices in our dorm rooms: it can emit smell. The primary goal of the Cyrano is to be able to enhance someone’s mood through the pairing of scent and music. With all the stresses of daily life, don’t you wish your speaker could do more to improve your mood too? The Cyrano is a new-age form of meditation. Not only does the Cyrano have pairs of scents and music to relax you, but they also have pairs that can awaken or energize you.

We all use air fresheners, but eventually we become tired of the smell, or just stop smelling it at all. With the Cyrano, the smell is only emitted for a short amount of time to ensure that you receive maximum impact with each use. There are many different scent packs that can be purchased for the Cyrano. One scent pack is entitled “Cancun Stroll,” which is produced with the aromas of guava and suntan, giving the sniffer an overwhelming feeling that they have just been dropped in Cancun. Another scent is titled “Einstein”. This scent pack includes rosemary and seawater which intends to allow people to see the world in a fresh way as Einstein did. There are currently twelve scents to choose from, but the company is developing more so everyone will find a pairing that fits their needs.

Cyrano is one of the first products to be able to produce scents through control of an app, demonstrating just how advanced, and how accessible, technology has become. However, mental health is not the only reason to use scent for technology in the future. Because scent is such a powerful tool, it has great influence over what humans enjoy and of course what purchase. While you are in a store, you are much more likely to buy something if the store smells pleasant to you. If you can smell the tuna that one of the workers ate for lunch, you will most likely leave the store quickly with empty hands. Now, companies will begin to have to opportunity to persuade consumers to buy their products by releasing particular smells while they show ads on the television or even over Spotify. Commercials will no longer be judged on the quality of the content or the humor throughout the advertisement but the smell that takes over the room while the commercial is on. Imagine just how much Superbowl Sunday will change when you can smell everything you see! Once we can smell commercials in the comfort in our own homes, it will not be long before movies and television series can begin to utilize the technology.

Can you imagine watching the Food Network and being able to smell what Bobby Flay is grilling? Or what Guy Fieri is tasting? Even if you are not a fan of the Food Network, you have to agree that having the ability to smell something you have only been able to see and hear about is enticing. Even watching your favorite television show or movie will change drastically, as you will be able to smell anything that the characters can smell, immersing you deeper into the plot. As of right now, commercials and television with scent are still far away, but the ball is rolling. Thanks to products like the Cyrano, a new world is unfolding right under our noses!

[Office1] McMullen, T. (2016, September 16). 'The missing sense': why our technology addiction makes us crave smells. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/16/smell-digital-technology-ophone-cyrano

Cyrano- The Scent Digital Speaker. (2016, May 13). Retrieved from http://www.geekextreme.com/gadgets/cyrano-scent-digital-speaker-17594