The Reason Why We Can’t Smell Our Own House
By: Synthia Satkuna, Ma Candidate
Tags: Smells, Science, Psychology, Writing, Nose

As the days etch on, I can’t help but think about the friendships I’ve had in my formative years, where we would invite our friends to our homes — with our parents’ permission obviously — and they would invite us back.

When we visited a new friend or acquaintance, their house had this innate but benign signature smell. It seemed to be exclusive to their house only, no matter how many times you visited them afterward.

However, if you told them that their house had a unique smell, they would usually be oblivious, shrug their shoulders, and move on. Then, the tables would turn, where they would visit you and they would tell you that your house has a unique smell, too.

It could be a myriad of normal smells, ranging from pepper to freshly brewed coffee, to the faintest hints of lavender, or even freshly cut lemons. Either way, we sometimes get oblivious to the smells in our own home sometimes.

It’s called olfactory adaptation.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Olfactory adaptation, alternatively known as olfactory fatigue and nose blindness, is just a temporary inability to identify certain smells after prolonged exposure to it.

For example, if you chewed a strong brand of minty gum for about an hour or so, you will eventually stop smelling it. Some of the smell might have genuinely weaned off, but your brain has grown fully numb to it, and you initially forget about the gum chewing.

Hours later, your partner comes in, excited to share something with you. They open the door and are momentarily taken aback by the mint’s sheer power. They too, will eventually fall prey to the tantalizing reaches of olfactory adaptation.

However, it’s not a terrible thing to have. Think of our cavemen ancestors. If they were hiding from predators, olfactory adaptation could have comforted the person, especially as the smells would have taken the backburner for more pressing matters, like finding food and preparing a better shelter.

Photo by Dan Edwards on Unsplash — New smells crop up, but that’s part of life.

When you inhale, there are various molecules that permeate off of the things in our environment, and they work their way into our nostrils, onto a wall of mucus at our throat’s backside, called the olfactory epithelium.

These molecules get dissolved and bind to special receptors that fire signals to the brain, which is then registered as a specific smell. In theory, you could trick yourself into smelling something else with the help of a trusted loved one, as a study in 2001 has shown.

For example, imagine someone shared a mysterious dish with you. You’re not sure what this dish is made out of, and so, you ask them. They lie, without you knowing, and tell you it’s a variation of something that you already like, such as your favourite food.

This neutral smell might be more favourably received until the deception is discovered.

However, the same loved one could also trick you in the other direction, by insinuating that you are smelling something super disgusting. I’ll let you use your imagination on that.

Photo by Andrey Zvyagintsev on Unsplash — She’s not impressed.

Either way, changes to our surroundings, require us to be mindful of the things happening in our environment. Our brain is constantly calibrating, processing new sights, sounds, and smells.

If you’re unsure if your house is smelling good or not, perhaps you can leave the room — and perhaps the entire house itself — for a few hours and then come back to it later.

If you’re still unsure, you could take a quick jog up and down the stairs or do some other kind of sudden movement, like jumping jacks and stretches.

As long as you surround yourself with the most wondrous smells, perhaps the rest will follow, and everyone will walk out of the situation much happier than before.