## 3 Results
### Assessment of Olfactory and Gustatory Function
Figure 2: Heatmap of Pearson’s correlations (r) and significance (**_p_ \(<\) 0.01; * \(p\) \(<\) 0.05) calculated between olfactory parameters (odor threshold, OThr; odor discrimination, ODi; odor identification, OId; TDI score = OThr + ODi + OId) and gustatory parameters (sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and TT score = total taste score) in healthy participants (Controls, n = 158) and participants with hyposmia (Hypos, n = 111) and hypogesua (Hypogeu, n = 34) (**a**). Scatterplots of the relationship between TDI score versus TT score in controls (**b**), participants with hyposmia (**c**), and with hypogesuasia (**d**). A subpopulation (n = 111) was chosen among all participants to assess the differences in the perception of sensory characteristics/acceptance of the herbal myrtle bitter liqueur Mittamaro in subjects with hyposmia and hypogeusia versus healthy controls. Values of demographic and clinical parameters of healthy controls (Controls, n = 68), participants with hyposmia (Hypos, n = 22), and with hypogeusia (Hypogeu, n = 21) enrolled to assess Mittamaro odor and taste dimensions are reported in Table 2.  
In this subpopulation, no significant differences were found in weight, height, and BMI between subjects with hyposmia and hypogeusia compared to controls, while participants with hyposmia exhibited a significant increase (\(p<0.05\)) in the age versus healthy controls. Also in this subpopulation, participants with hyposmia showed a marked decrease in the olfactory function, exhibiting mean scores significantly lower than controls for OThr [F\({}_{(2,108)}\) = 21.654, \(p<0.001\)], ODi [F\({}_{(2,108)}\) = 12.227, \(p<0.001\)], and Old [F\({}_{(2,108)}\) = 20.282, \(p<0.001\)] (Figure 3a). Regarding the gustatory function (Figure 3b), a significant decrease was observed for salty (\(p<0.05\)), and sour (\(p<0.05\)) score perception in participants with hyposmia versus healthy controls. Participants with hypogeusia were characterized by a marked deficit in the gustatory function, exhibiting a significant decrease in sweet [F\({}_{(2,108)}\) = 15.557, \(p<0.001\)], salty [F\({}_{(2,108)}\) = 17.169, \(p<0.001\)], sour [F\({}_{(2,108)}\) = 19.551, \(p<0.001\)], and bitter [F\({}_{(2,108)}\) = 12.514, \(p<0.001\)] taste perception compared to healthy controls (Figure 3b), while a significantly lower score than healthy controls was observed for Old (\(p<0.05\)) (Figure 3a). Moreover, significant differences were observed in sweet (\(p<0.05\)), salty (\(p<0.05\)), sour (\(p<0.01\)), and bitter taste perception (\(p<0.05\)) between participants with hypogeusia versus those with hyposmia (Figure 3b). Significant differences were observed for the TDI [F\({}_{(2,108)}\) = 39.354, \(p<0.001\)] and TT scores [F\({}_{(2,108)}\) = 60.429, \(p<0.001\)] between subjects with hyposmia and hypogeusia compared to healthy controls, confirming also in this subpopulation the marked deficits in the olfactory and gustatory function in these two groups of participants and the relation between the two functions. Then, a 7-points hedonic Likert-type scale was used to evaluate the herbal bitter liqueur odor and taste dimensions (pleasantness, intensity, and familiarity) in the three groups of participants to evidence the potential role of aromatic herbs/spices in modulating sensory perception in consumers with chemosensory deficits [24; 26; 34]. Initially, participants provided a subjective description of the Mittamaro odor sensory properties (aroma), and the results obtained for healthy controls and participants with hyposmia and hypogeusia are listed in Table 3.  
Regarding Mirtoamaro odor (aroma), all groups of participants individuated the presence of alcohol, myrtle as the main contributor to the sensory properties of the product, and bitter compounds. Due to the complex composition of the herbal bitter liqueur, the individuation of specific components (herbs/spices) of the flavoring mixture was very difficult for all participants. In general, healthy controls furnished more sensory