When you catch a whiff of freshly baked cookies, your mind might instantly flood with memories of childhood, warmth, and comfort. Conversely, the smell of spoiled food might trigger an immediate feeling of disgust. This emotional response to smells, whether positive or negative, is known as odor hedonic perception. But what exactly is this phenomenon, […]
As an ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat) doctor or nurse, testing a patient’s ability to taste is a crucial part of the diagnostic process. But why is it so important and how can you perform a taste test? Read more on this page about taste testing. Key reasons for taste testing Taste test with taste […]
Fire in your mouth? Contrary to popular belief, the burning sensation you experience from a spicy chili pepper isn’t actually tasting “heat”. It’s a clever illusion perpetrated by a molecule called capsaicin. It belongs to a class of molecules called capsaicinoids which are the compounds found in members of the capsicum family (also known as […]
Have you or someone close to you recently suffered from a reduced sense of smell? Then it may well be that you have an olfactory disorder and that you suffer from, for example, parosmia or phantosmia. Both are disturbances of the sense of smell and in this blog we will briefly explain what they are, […]
Taste, how does it actually work? Taste is the way our brain perceives the stimuli from taste buds. Of course we all know the five flavors; sweet, bitter, salty, sour and umami. But how do you describe the taste of mint, for example? Of course, the five basic tastes do not give the full picture […]
Loss of smell in children can lead to major consequences in eating patterns. As a parent, you therefore seek support and understanding with these problems. Especially when your child indicates that the food tastes terrible. For example, children may say that food tastes like sewage and that water tastes like rotten eggs. It is often […]
Loss of smell after corona (covid-19) is unfortunately now a well-known and worldwide phenomenon. Loss of smell and taste are common symptoms of a corona infection. After you have recovered from the infection, it does not always mean that you will immediately regain your sense of smell and taste. ENT doctors and scientists are busy […]
Hyposmia is a medical term used to describe a reduced sense of smell, which means that a person is less sensitive to odors than normal. People with hyposmia can still perceive odors, but with less intensity than people with a normal sense of smell. It can range from mild to severe decreased sense of smell. […]
We are occasionally asked whether it is also useful to use nose plugs in the case of parosmia. Parosmia is an olfactory disorder in which odors are perceived, but they are processed in a different way than normal. In many cases, normal and pleasant odors are experienced as dirty and unpleasant. This form of parosmia […]
An olfactory threshold test (or smell threshold test) is a smell test that examines the concentration up to which a subject can perceive an odor. The lower the concentration a person can perceive, the better a person’s sense of smell is. There are various olfactory threshold tests available, on this page we explain these tests […]
