It can also be related to other medical conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and malnutrition. If you are experiencing a smell disorder, talk with your doctor. The NIDCD supports basic and clinical research of smell and taste disorders at its laboratories in Bethesda, Maryland, and at universities and chemosensory research centers across the country.
These chemosensory scientists are exploring how to:. The NIDCD maintains a directory of organizations that provide information on the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language. Breadcrumb Home Health Information. Smell Disorders. Information for the public Information for health professionals. On this page: How common are smell disorders? How does your sense of smell work?
What are the smell disorders? What causes smell disorders? How are smell disorders diagnosed and treated? Are smell disorders serious? What research is being done on smell disorders? Where can I find additional information about smell disorders? How common are smell disorders? Hyposmia [high-POSE-mee-ah] is a reduced ability to detect odors. Anosmia [ah-NOSE-mee-ah] is the complete inability to detect odors. In rare cases, someone may be born without a sense of smell, a condition called congenital anosmia.
Parosmia [pahr-OZE-mee-ah] is a change in the normal perception of odors, such as when the smell of something familiar is distorted, or when something that normally smells pleasant now smells foul. These chemosensory scientists are exploring how to: Promote the regeneration of sensory nerve cells. Understand the effects of the environment such as gasoline fumes, chemicals, and extremes of humidity and temperature on smell and taste.
Prevent the effects of aging on smell and taste. Develop new diagnostic tests for taste and smell disorders. Understand associations between smell disorders and changes in diet and food preferences in the elderly or among people with chronic illnesses.
He graduated from the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options.
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Knowledge awaits. See Subscription Options Already a subscriber? Create Account See Subscription Options. Continue reading with a Scientific American subscription. For the new study, the researchers designed experiments based on the availability of mice genetically engineered by another lab so that their brain cells could be activated by shining light on them—a technique called optogenetics. If mice pushed the lever after activation of a different set of glomeruli simulation of a different odor , they received no water.
Specifically, researchers found that changing which of the glomeruli within each odor-defining set were activated first led to as much as a 30 percent drop in the ability of a mouse to correctly sense an odor signal and obtain water. Changes in the last glomeruli in each set came with as little as a 5 percent decrease in accurate odor sensing. Tight control in their model over when, how many, and which receptors and glomeruli were activated in the mice enabled the team to sift through many variables and identify which odor features stood out.
In addition to Chong and Dr. David March Phone: david.
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