Development of a Digital Olfactory Function Test: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Olfactory dysfunction is associated with conditions such as neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, obesity, autoimmune diseases, mental illnesses, and upper-airway-related diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the development of an examiner-independent olfactory function test. We recently developed a digital olfactory function test called Digitalscent (DIGITAL SCENT), which is a kiosk-type device with an integrated hardware system. The protocol follows conventional psychophysical olfactory function protocols, including threshold, discrimination, and identification test subsets. Eight healthy participants without olfactory dysfunction volunteered for the suitability test and completed both the YSK olfactory function and Digitalscent tests. Pearson correlations were determined between the YSK olfactory function and Digitalscent tests. Digitalscent could be implemented as a conventional olfactory function test, and all participants followed the Digitalscent test protocols. Limitations in the threshold and identification test subsets included unfamiliarity of the patients to the digital test and incompleteness in the sophisticated release of odorants. A strength of the identification test subset was the dual sensory stimulation of vision and olfaction. Digitalscent could—without facilitating viral transmission—enable early diagnosis of olfactory dysfunction during respiratory viral pandemics. Future studies with larger sample sizes are warranted to facilitate wider use of this digital olfactory function test.