I doubt that because I have personally felt the physical effects of fragrances, both good and bad, and they can be very noticeable.

A 3x improvement maybe not really be all that surprising. Smell is a pretty strong sense when you're young but it doe's fade when you get older, especially after the age of 60. It may be rewiring/re-energizing neural connections that are getting rusty (so to speak).

Should be pretty easy to test on one's self but you might have to be 60+ years old to get those results.