Abstract
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.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bullock JD, Wang JP, Bullock GH (1998) Was dom perignon really blind? Surv Ophthalmol 42(5):481–486 (S0039625797001276 [pii])
Niemeyer W, Starlinger I (1981) Do the blind hear better? Investigations on auditory processing in congenital or early acquired blindness. II. Central functions. Audiology 20(6):510–515
Sadato N (2005) How the blind “see” Braille: lessons from functional magnetic resonance imaging. Neuroscientist 11(6):577–582. doi:10.1177/1073858405277314
Goldreich D, Kanics IM (2003) Tactile acuity is enhanced in blindness. J Neurosci 23(8):3439–3445. doi:http://www.jneurosci.org/content/23/8/3439.full.pdf
Lessard N, Pare M, Lepore F, Lassonde M (1998) Early-blind human subjects localize sound sources better than sighted subjects. Nature 395(6699):278–280. doi:10.1038/26228
Kupers R, Beaulieu-Lefebvre M, Schneider FC, Kassuba T, Paulson OB, Siebner HR, Ptito M (2011) Neural correlates of olfactory processing in congenital blindness. Neuropsychologia 49(7):2037–2044. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.03.033
Rombaux P, Huart C, De Volder AG, Cuevas I, Renier L, Duprez T, Grandin C (2010) Increased olfactory bulb volume and olfactory function in early blind subjects. NeuroReport 21(17):1069–1073. doi:10.1097/WNR.0b013e32833fcb8a
Kobal G, Van Toller S, Hummel T (1989) Is there directional smelling? Experientia 45(2):130–132
Van Toller S, Kendal-Reed M (1995) A possible protocognitive role for odor in human infant development. Brain Cogn 29(3):275–293
Schwenn O, Hundorf I, Moll B, Pitz S, Mann WJ (2002) Do blind persons have a better sense of smell than normal sighted people? Klin Monbl Augenheilkd 219(9):649–654. doi:10.1055/s-2002-35167
Smith RS, Doty RL, Burlingame GK, McKeown DA (1993) Smell and taste function in the visually impaired. Percept Psychophys 54(5):649–655
Diekmann H, Walger M, von Wedel H (1994) Sense of smell in deaf and blind patients. HNO 42(5):264–269
Rosenbluth R, Grossman ES, Kaitz M (2000) Performance of early-blind and sighted children on olfactory tasks. Perception 29(1):101–110
Murphy C, Cain WS (1986) Odor identification: the blind are better. Physiol Behav 37(1):177–180. doi:10.1016/0031-9384(86)90402-6
Damm M, Temmel A, Welge-Lussen A, Eckel HE, Kreft MP, Klussmann JP, Gudziol H, Huttenbrink KB, Hummel T (2004) Olfactory dysfunctions. Epidemiology and therapy in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. HNO 52(2):112–120. doi:10.1007/s00106-003-0877-z
Hummel T, Kobal G, Gudziol H, Mackay-Sim A (2007) Normative data for the “Sniffin’ Sticks” including tests of odor identification, odor discrimination, and olfactory thresholds: an upgrade based on a group of more than 3,000 subjects. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 264(3):237–243. doi:10.1007/s00405-006-0173-0
Gougoux F, Lepore F, Lassonde M, Voss P, Zatorre RJ, Belin P (2004) Neuropsychology: pitch discrimination in the early blind. Nature 430(6997):309. doi:10.1038/430309a430309a
Gagnon L, Schneider FC, Siebner HR, Paulson OB, Kupers R, Ptito M (2012) Activation of the hippocampal complex during tactile maze solving in congenitally blind subjects. Neuropsychologia 50(7):1663–1671. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.03.022
Alary F, Goldstein R, Duquette M, Chapman CE, Voss P, Lepore F (2008) Tactile acuity in the blind: a psychophysical study using a two-dimensional angle discrimination task. Exp Brain Res 187(4):587–594. doi:10.1007/s00221-008-1327-7
Amedi A, Raz N, Pianka P, Malach R, Zohary E (2003) Early ‘visual’ cortex activation correlates with superior verbal memory performance in the blind. Nat Neurosci 6(7):758–766. doi:10.1038/nn1072nn1072
Roder B, Rosler F (2003) Memory for environmental sounds in sighted, congenitally blind and late blind adults: evidence for cross-modal compensation. Int J Psychophysiol 50(1–2):27–39
Cuevas I, Plaza P, Rombaux P, De Volder AG, Renier L (2009) Odour discrimination and identification are improved in early blindness. Neuropsychologia 47(14):3079–3083. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.07.004
Conflict of interest
The authors have no financial disclosures for this article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
J. C. Luers and S. Mikolajczak contributed equally to the article.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Luers, J.C., Mikolajczak, S., Hahn, M. et al. Do the blinds smell better?. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 271, 1933–1937 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-013-2816-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-013-2816-2