Problems with Smell

Frequently Asked Questions

14. How are smell disorders diagnosed? - cont'd

An easily administered "scratch and sniff" test allows a person to scratch pieces of paper treated to release different odors, sniff them, and try to identify each odor from a list of possibilities. In this way, doctors can determine whether a person has hyposmia, a decreased ability to smell, anosmia, the inability to detect any odors, or another kind of smell disorder.