OLFACTION IN VISUALLY-IMPAIRED OR HEARING -IMPAIRED SUBJECTS EXAMINEDBY A PSYCHOPHYSICAL SNIFFING TEST

The olfactory performances of 10 visually-impaired and 9 hearing-impai red subjects were investigated by a psychophysical sniffing test (the Munich Olfaction Test). These subjects were compared with 21 control v olunteers who completed the test with covered eyes, 20 control volunte ers whose ears were plugged during the test and with 22 unimpaired con trols. The test examined discrimination performances, detection and pe rception thresholds, identification abilities, olfactory memory, and h edonistic evaluations of all subjects. The present results showed that attention focusing on olfactory tasks by lowering of auditory or visu al inputs did not enhance the olfactory performances of the control su bjects. Also, the visually-impaired subjects did not perform better th en the control subjects. The diminished olfactory abilities of the hea ring-impaired were discussed against the background of delayed languag e acquisition.