Assessment of odor hedonic perception: the Sniffin` Sticks Parosmia Test (SSParoT)

Oral presentation

David T. Liu ¹, Antje Welge-Luessen ², Gerold Besser ¹, Christian A. Mueller ¹, Bertold Renner ^{3, 4}

¹ Department of Otorhinolaryngology- Head&Neck Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, ² Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland, ³ Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany, ⁴ Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Medical Faculty Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

Objectives: Qualitative olfactory dysfunction is characterized as distorted odor perception and can have a profound effect on the quality of life of affected individuals. Parosmia and phantosmia represent the two main subgroups of qualitative impairment and are currently diagnosed based on patient history only. We have developed a test method that measures qualitative olfactory function based on the odors of the Sniffin` Sticks Identification subtest. The newly developed test is called Sniffin` Sticks Parosmia Test (SSParoT). SSParoT uses hedonic estimates of two oppositely valenced odors (pleasant and unpleasant) to assess hedonic range (HR) and hedonic direction (HD), which represent qualitative olfactory perception. HR is defined as the perceivable hedonic distance between two oppositely valenced odors, while HD indicates the overall hedonic perception of odors.
Experimental methods: This multicenter study enrolled 162 normosmic subjects in four consecutive experiments and three patients with qualitative olfactory dysfunction. Cluster analysis was used to group odors from the 16-item Sniffin’ Sticks Identification test and 24-additional odors into clusters with distinct hedonic properties. Normative values were derived from normosmic subjects aged between 18 and 35 years.
Results: Eleven odor pairs were found to be suitable for the estimation of HR and HD. Analysis showed agreement between test-retest sessions for all odor pairs. Preliminary results from two patients with parosmia and one patient with phantosmia provide evidence for the proof of concept of SSParoT.
Conclusion: SSparoT might emerge as a valuable tool to assess qualitative olfactory function in health and disease.

Funding: None.