Reduction of odor and nasal pungency associated with aging

Aging can seriously blunt suprathreshold sensations mediated by the olfactory receptor system and by common chemical receptors. Despite large individual differences, on the average any given stimulus seemed only about half as intense to the elderly (20 subjects, 65-83 yrs) as to the young (20 subjects, 18-25 yrs). The nature of the loss was a constant percentage reduction of perceived magnitude at stimulus levels from weak to strong. The stimuli were iso-amyl butyrate (a nonirritating fruity odor) and CO2 (which is practically odorless but triggers common chemical sensations effectively). The method used was magnitude matching, by which subjects made numerical estimates of the perceived magnitude of various levels of the two chemical stimuli and of the loudness of low-pitched noises. The loudness estimates served to adjust each subject's chemical estimates to help compensate for individual idiosyncrasies in the use of numbers and potential biases associated with age. Common chemical and olfactory losses seem to be unrelated; aging can dull one sense and leave the other acute.