How does Congruence of Scent and Music Affect People's Emotions

摘要

It is widely believed that there is a relationship between scent and music. For example, there is congruence among certain scent, music, and consumers' buying behaviors according to previous study. However, only limited number of scents and music have been analyzed, which is not sufficient to conclude common characteristics of congruence between scent and music in arousal dimension. Consequently, we investigated the effect of scent on the mood evaluation of music by using four kinds of scents and two music samples. Overall, our results showed the arousal quality of scent would effectively modify the perceived arousal level of music, and scent which was congruent with music on arousal could also increase the affirmation of music. These results therefore underline the potential of scent to enhance listening experience, and those working in the music industry may feel progressively further optimistic in adopting appropriate scent to achieve advanced listening experience.