There is exciting news for people who have lost their sense of smell. Scientists have created a new device that helps people detect certain smells by turning odor signals into physical sensations inside the nose.
This breakthrough could one day help millions of people who can no longer smell.
Losing the sense of smell, known as anosmia or hyposmia, affects around 20% of people around the world. It can happen because of infections, medications, injuries, or other causes, and the loss can be temporary or permanent.
Unlike hearing or vision loss, where devices like hearing aids or eye implants exist, there has never been a working device to restore the sense of smell—until now.
The researchers behind this invention published their study in the journal Science Advances. They designed a system that uses an artificial nose (also called an e-nose) to detect smells. The e-nose captures the chemical makeup of a smell and converts it into a digital signal or code.
This code is then sent into the nose using a small electrical device. The device, shaped like a magnetic clip, is placed on the septum, which is the wall between your nostrils. It stimulates a nerve in the nose called the trigeminal nerve using gentle electrical pulses.
When the nerve is stimulated, people feel a unique sensation in their nose. They’re not actually smelling the odor, but their brain learns to connect that feeling with a specific smell. This lets them tell the difference between smells using touch-like sensations.
The method is based on something called sensory substitution. This means that when one sense (like smell) doesn’t work, another sense (like touch) takes over to carry the information.
In the nose, there are two sensory systems: the olfactory system (for smell) and the trigeminal system (for touch, temperature, and irritation). Since the smell system doesn’t work in some people, this new device uses the touch system to send information instead.
The researchers explain that people using this device won’t smell real odors in the usual way, but it is the first working tool that can help people with smell loss detect and identify smells through a different sense.
To test the idea, the scientists ran four experiments with 65 people. Thirteen of them had normal smell ability, and 52 had lost their sense of smell. All of the participants could sense when an odor was present using the device, and most were able to tell the difference between two smells.
Surprisingly, the device worked just as well in people with no sense of smell as it did in those with normal smell, showing that the trigeminal nerve works for almost everyone.
The research is still in the early stages. In the future, scientists hope to expand the number of smells the device can recognize and improve the technology so it becomes small, wearable, and easy to use every day.
This invention offers new hope for people with smell loss, a condition that until now had very few options for treatment.
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The study is published in Science Advances.
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