Do the blinds smell better?

If people lose a sense organ, there is thought to be an increase in the remaining sensory functions. Previous studies showed ambiguous results on this topic. In a prospective matched pair case-control study on 46 blind and 46 normal-sighted subjects, the olfactory performance was examined using the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology 2014-07, Vol.271 (7), p.1933-1937
Main Authors: Luers, Jan Christoffer, Mikolajczak, Stefanie, Hahn, Moritz, Wittekindt, Claus, Beutner, Dirk, Hüttenbrink, Karl-Bernd, Damm, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Blindness - physiopathology
Blindness - psychology
Case-Control Studies
Female
Head and Neck Surgery
Humans
Male
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Middle Aged
Neurosurgery
Olfactory Perception - physiology
Otorhinolaryngology
Prospective Studies
Rhinology
Sensory Thresholds - physiology
Smell - physiology
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Summary:If people lose a sense organ, there is thought to be an increase in the remaining sensory functions. Previous studies showed ambiguous results on this topic. In a prospective matched pair case-control study on 46 blind and 46 normal-sighted subjects, the olfactory performance was examined using the Sniffin’ Sticks Test [threshold-discrimination-identification (TDI) test], determining the olfactory threshold, the identification and the discrimination performance. There was no significant difference between the groups. Neither the overall olfactory performance (TDI score) nor any of its subtests did correlate with the vision or with the duration of blindness. The study could not detect any superior smell abilities of blind subjects as compared to sighted subjects.
ISSN:0937-4477
1434-4726
DOI:10.1007/s00405-013-2816-2