How Frequent is Anosmia?
In response to a query about anosmia, Stephen Black posted the following to the Teaching in the Psychological Sciences discussion group in February of 1998. I don’t have much, but here it is. From Freedman (1993): “More than 2 million Americans suffer from a significant loss of their ability to smell…Anosmia can be caused by a gene defect, by aging, by viral infections and allergies, or, inadvertently, by certain prescription drugs. Most commonly it occurs after a head trauma, when the jarring of the brain shears off the delicate axons running from the olfactory neurons to the brain through a bony plate in the skull. In many such cases the axons grow back, restoring smell, but the condition can be permanent.” I also have a flyer for the Handbook of Olfaction and Gustation (1994, ed. R. Doty) with a large section under olfaction headed “Clinical Applications and Perspectives”. At $225 US, it was too pricey for our library, but if I had anosmia, I’d certainly want to check it out. Refe
