The protocol was to pre-relax the subjects, record the EEG for 2 mins and then apply the odour to a face mask, wait 3 mins and then record another 2 mins. The results are therefore supportive of the suggested effects of these two oils. While this work was a little fun to make students think about the olfactory system it has its serious side. All rights reserved Return to top Detection of anosmia Churunal Hari, Hara Sardi, Ben Grimshaw and Tim Jacob. At present this is difficult.
Current methods are invasive and uncomfortable at best.
We are developing a method for recording the activity of the olfactory system non-invasively by placing electrodes on the surface of the nose. The characteristics of the psychological perception of the malodours butyric acid and n-valeric acid were studied by olfactometry. The results showed that the number of odour pulses detected increased with increasing the pulse duration or inter-stimulus interval. However, more interesting phenomenon were revealed by analysing the data in terms of gender. The perception of n-valeric acid was different between male and female subjects.