Development of olfactory display using pulse ejection for medical applications

Periodic assessment of olfaction is important because a decline in olfaction can be caused by disorders such as Alzheimer´s dementia at an early stage. However, current olfactory tests are rarely conducted due to the time and effort necessary for the scent presentation and the problem of scent lingering in the air. Therefore, we developed an olfactory display using pulse ejection for medical use. We also developed several types of nozzles and compared them. We evaluated the performance of the olfactory display on patients with olfactory disturbance. Then, we measured the degree of olfactory loss of the patients by using T&T olfactometer, the most widely known olfactory test in Japan, and found that our olfactory display could accurately assess the olfactory skills of the patients. In the future, we aim to solve the problems of current olfactory tests by using the olfactory display and familiarize olfactory tests.