Scented products are increasingly dominating our homes, our cars and our lives.

"Scent is absolutely one of the key driving forces of today," says Marshal Cohen of the market research firm NPD Group. "We're seeing it enter into many businesses. In the apparel and cosmetic industries, in home furnishings, accessories, food, the auto industry. ... The scent industry has — forgive the pun — not even scratched the surface."

Examples: lavender-scented rugs, eucalyptus-scented pillow-covers, jasmine-scented mattress pads and chocolate-scented socks, coffee-scented watches, Scentstories, a home fragrance machine released by Procter & Gamble that plays scent cartridge.

Why has scent become an all-present force in modern life as well as a critical marketing tool? Because, of the five senses, scent is the least controllable (we can hold our breath, but not for long) and the most direct. \

In the future, "odours will be used not just for their pleasure value or for consumer appeal, but for their functional value," says Alan Hirsch, the neurological director of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago.

Hirsch's studies have found that a mixed floral aroma increases the speed of learning by 17 per cent. This, he says, will spawn all kinds of floral-scented products to enhance learning — scented test-taking paper, perhaps, or pencils.

Nov. 20, 2004. Toronto Star Page M4 by STEVEN BARRIE-ANTHONY