title: Individual significance of olfaction: development of a questionnaire.
abstract: Clinical experience shows that the individual significance of olfactory function varies between subjects. In order to estimate these individual differences we developed a questionnaire to study the subjective importance of the sense of smell. Questions were arranged within three subscales: association with olfactory sensations, application of the sense of smell, and the readiness to draw consequences from the olfactory perception. The questionnaire was shown to be time efficient, suitable for normosmic subjects and patients with hyposmia or anosmia. It exhibited a good internal reliability (Cronbach's Alpha = 0.77). First results in 123 subjects indicate that the subjective importance of the sense of smell stays at the same level throughout life-span despite of a decreased olfactory sensitivity. Furthermore, women reported a higher importance of olfaction. It is hoped that this questionnaire will contribute to clarify, for example, cross-cultural differences in the perception of odours.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Dresden Medical School, Fetscherstrasse 74, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Ilona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Croy
authors.forename: Dorothee
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Buschhüter
authors.forename: Han-Seok
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Negoias
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hummel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000857:Olfaction Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D055815:Young Adult