Patients with hay fever often complain they can't smell things very well.
Studies show that up to half of allergy sufferers say they have noticed some loss of smell.
Receptors for smell are located in the mucous membranes lining the roof of the nasal cavity in an area called the olfactory epithelium. When we breathe, odors reach the very fine and sensitive hairlike ends of the olfactory nerve in the olfactory epithelium. When scents come into contact with the nerve endings, information travels along the nerve to the area of the brain responsible for smell. The brain decodes the signal, and we recognize the odor. Many nasal abnormalities may result in a decreased ability to smell.