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Smell and taste function in the visually impaired

R S Smith¹, R L Doty, G K Burlingame

¹University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Perception & Psychophysics

|November 1, 1993

Summary

Blind individuals do not show enhanced senses compared to sighted individuals. Specialized training significantly improves chemosensory performance, suggesting training, not blindness, enhances smell and taste abilities.

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Area of Science:

Sensory neuroscience
Human sensory perception
Chemosensory function

Background:

Limited research quantifies sensory compensation in visually impaired individuals.
Investigating whether blindness enhances other senses is crucial for understanding sensory plasticity.

Purpose of the Study:

To determine if blind subjects outperform sighted subjects in chemosensory tests.
To assess the impact of specialized training on olfactory and gustatory performance.

Main Methods:

Administered olfactory and gustatory tests (UPSIT, odor discrimination, taste identification, odor detection threshold) to blind and sighted participants.
Included a trained sensory panel from a water quality evaluation group for comparison.
Utilized phenyl ethyl alcohol (PEA) odor detection threshold test.

Main Results:

Blind subjects did not outperform sighted subjects on any chemosensory tests.
Trained subjects significantly outperformed both blind and untrained sighted subjects in odor detection, discrimination, and taste identification.
Trained subjects rated citric acid pleasantness higher than blind subjects.

Conclusions:

Blindness itself does not appear to enhance chemosensory function.
Specialized sensory training significantly improves performance across various olfactory and gustatory tasks.
Sensory performance is more influenced by training than by visual impairment.

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