Having radio waves beamed into our head ramps up our sense of smell
Maintaining a good smell has advantages, including our sense of taste
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Directing powerful radio waves directly in a person’s head seems to improve their smell – at least temporarily.
Aging, trauma and certain neurological conditions can all affect the olfactory nerve, which allows an odor, to reduce or even to completely eliminate the meaning. Many people also bring back a decrease in smell with COVID-19. This has a training effect on a person’s taste of taste and can be harmful to security, for example, if he does not detect a gas leak.
“In current clinical practice, severe olfactory dysfunction can be treated by surgery, while more common cases are based on chemical therapies, such as repeated exhibition at home,” said Yongwoo Jang at the University of Hanyang in Seoul. “Unlike other medical areas where therapeutic devices have progressed rapidly, treatment in this area has remained relatively traditional. Recognizing this gap, we have introduced the concept of electrocetics, using bioelectronic stimulation as therapy. ”
Jang and his colleagues wanted to directly stimulate the olfactory system, but because it is deep inside the human head, they could not use electrical stimulation, so they rather turned to radio waves.
Scientists first recruited 28 people without odor problems. For 5 minutes, these participants were exhibited at 15 watts of power, issued by a square antenna of 5 centimeters attached to a frame 10 cm from their head. “The stimulation itself is not directly perceived by the patient,” explains Jang. “However, if stimulation continues for a while, some individuals may feel a slight feeling of warming at the stimulation site.”
Smell has been evaluated via the commonly used sniffin threshold test. This involved participants trying to detect the presence of N-Buanol alcohol, produced in the fermentation of sugars, to variable dilutions.
The researchers noted that the participants had obtained a significantly better score after the radio and earlier treatment than before, with this improvement duration of one week. People with odor problems may require recurring treatments, says Jang.
The team is now preparing studies to test the approach on people with olfactory problems. The device has also been improved to provide more targeted stimulation, which can make even greater improvements, explains Jang.
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