Assessment of odor hedonic perception: the Sniffin’ sticks parosmia test (SSParoT)

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • David T. Liu - , Medical University of Vienna (Author)
  • Antje Welge-Lüssen - , University of Basel (Author)
  • Gerold Besser - , Medical University of Vienna (Author)
  • Christian A. Mueller - , Medical University of Vienna (Author)
  • Bertold Renner - , Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)

Abstract

Qualitative olfactory dysfunction is characterized as distorted odor perception and can have a profound effect on quality of life of affected individuals. Parosmia and phantosmia represent the two main subgroups of qualitative impairment and are currently diagnosed based on patient history only. We have developed a test method which measures qualitative olfactory function based on the odors of the Sniffin’ Sticks Identification subtest. The newly developed test is called Sniffin’ Sticks Parosmia Test (SSParoT). SSParoT uses hedonic estimates of two oppositely valenced odors (pleasant and unpleasant) to assess hedonic range (HR) and hedonic direction (HD), which represent qualitative olfactory perception. HR is defined as the perceivable hedonic distance between two oppositely valenced odors, while HD serves as an indicator for overall hedonic perception of odors. This multicenter study enrolled a total of 162 normosmic subjects in four consecutive experiments. Cluster analysis was used to group odors from the 16-item Sniffin’ Sticks Identification test and 24-additional odors into clusters with distinct hedonic properties. Eleven odor pairs were found to be suitable for estimation of HR and HD. Analysis showed agreement between test–retest sessions for all odor pairs. SSparoT might emerge as a valuable tool to assess qualitative olfactory function in health and disease.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number18019
JournalScientific reports
Volume10
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2020
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 33093474
ORCID /0000-0003-0845-6793/work/139025263

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas