What Are Phantom Odors And How Many People Get Them?

[Disir]

As many as one in 15 Americans over the age of 40 experience phantom odors. That's according to a study published in the journal JAMA Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. Sadly, these aren't scents of roses, freshly cut grass, and cooked bacon, but more unpleasant smells (think: burning hair, rotting eggs, and ashtrays).

Phantom odors are a little-understood phenomenon and why exactly we get them is a bit of a mystery. Researchers suspect it is related to overactive odor-sensing cells found in the nasal cavity or even a glitch in the area of the brain responsible for interpreting odor signals, but this is still guesswork. We do, however, now know a little bit more about who gets them – and how prevalent they are across the US.

Researchers led by Kathleen Bainbridge from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) analyzed data from the 2011-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). In total, 7,417 adults 40 years and older were involved.

One in 15 (6.5 percent) reported having smelled a non-existent odor, a little more than what was found (4.9 percent) following a similar study in Sweden last year. But this result was not spread evenly across the entire population. Women, for example, were roughly twice as likely to experience phantom odors than men. It was also much more common among people from a lower socioeconomic background, with those in the lower income brackets 60 percent more likely to report phantom odors than those in the highest. The researchers suspect this may be because they are more likely to be exposed to pollution and toxins in their daily life.
What Are Phantom Odors And How Many People Get Them?

I have never had that.

 

[Ringel05]

As many as one in 15 Americans over the age of 40 experience phantom odors. That's according to a study published in the journal JAMA Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. Sadly, these aren't scents of roses, freshly cut grass, and cooked bacon, but more unpleasant smells (think: burning hair, rotting eggs, and ashtrays).

Phantom odors are a little-understood phenomenon and why exactly we get them is a bit of a mystery. Researchers suspect it is related to overactive odor-sensing cells found in the nasal cavity or even a glitch in the area of the brain responsible for interpreting odor signals, but this is still guesswork. We do, however, now know a little bit more about who gets them – and how prevalent they are across the US.

Researchers led by Kathleen Bainbridge from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) analyzed data from the 2011-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). In total, 7,417 adults 40 years and older were involved.

One in 15 (6.5 percent) reported having smelled a non-existent odor, a little more than what was found (4.9 percent) following a similar study in Sweden last year. But this result was not spread evenly across the entire population. Women, for example, were roughly twice as likely to experience phantom odors than men. It was also much more common among people from a lower socioeconomic background, with those in the lower income brackets 60 percent more likely to report phantom odors than those in the highest. The researchers suspect this may be because they are more likely to be exposed to pollution and toxins in their daily life.
What Are Phantom Odors And How Many People Get Them?

I have never had that.

They should have been around a couple of hundred years ago, all the odors were quite obvious........

 

[JustAnotherNut]

While I do have a sensitive nose and able to smell things that are there, such as milk beginning to sour or gasoline long before anyone else can smell it......there are times when I smell things that are not there, like chocolate and being a chocoholic I just figure its a subliminal need for chocolate. Well, that's my excuse to have chocolate and I'm sticking to it.

 

[JustAnotherNut]

The researchers suspect this may be because they are more likely to be exposed to pollution and toxins in their daily life.

This I disagree with.....namely because if someone is exposed to pollution & toxins, you'd think their ability to smell would be less rather than more or different

 

[Disir]

The researchers suspect this may be because they are more likely to be exposed to pollution and toxins in their daily life.

This I disagree with.....namely because if someone is exposed to pollution & toxins, you'd think their ability to smell would be less rather than more or different

I got the distinct feeling when I read it that this is going to be kicked over to the -not-really-important pile either because it's dealing with a class of people or used for the same.

 

[percysunshine]

People imagine seeing, hearing, and feeling things which never happened ... all the time.

The olfactory centers of the brain are no different than the other parts.

 

[JustAnotherNut]

The researchers suspect this may be because they are more likely to be exposed to pollution and toxins in their daily life.

This I disagree with.....namely because if someone is exposed to pollution & toxins, you'd think their ability to smell would be less rather than more or different

I got the distinct feeling when I read it that this is going to be kicked over to the -not-really-important pile either because it's dealing with a class of people or used for the same.

It does make one question the research on the socio-economic class, their exposure to toxins and ability to smell. I wasn't trying to trash the subject, but their reasons to make the claim of lower income have 'phantom' smells just seemed questionable.