New treatment restores smell without surgery or chemicals

By Stephen Beech

The sense of smell could be restored using radio waves without patients having to go under the knife, according to new research.

The "painless" treatment can be used to help people regain the vital sense - without resorting to surgery or chemicals, say scientists.

Our sense of smell helps us enjoy food, detect danger such as smoke or gas leaks, and even affects memory and emotion.

But many people can suffer a loss of smell, especially after COVID-19 or suffering a brain injury.

However, there are very few effective treatments, and those that exist often use strong scents or medicines that can cause discomfort in patients.

Now, a new study by researchers in South Korea suggests that a "simple and painless" way to improve our sense of smell could be to utilise radio waves.

Unlike traditional aroma-based therapy, which indirectly treats smell loss by exposing the patient to chemicals, the research team say radio waves can directly target the part of our brain responsible for smell, without causing pain.

Researchers from Hanyang University and Kwangwoon University asked volunteers with a healthy sense of smell to sit while a small radio antenna was placed near, but not touching, their forehead.

For five minutes, the antenna gently sent out radio waves to reach the smell-related nerves deep in the brain.

Before and after the short treatment, the research team tested how well the patient could smell very faint odors, such as diluted alcohol or fruit scents, using pen-shaped odour dispensers called Sniffin’ Sticks.

The researchers also recorded the patients’ brain signals to see how active their smell nerves were.

The findings, published in the journal APL Bioengineering, showed that the method improved subjects’ sense of smell for over a week after just one treatment.

Study author Professor Yonwoong Jang said: “The method is completely non-invasive - no surgery or chemicals needed - and safe, as it does not overheat the skin or cause discomfort.

“This study represents the first time that a person’s sense of smell has been improved using radio waves without any physical contact or chemicals, and the first attempt to explore radio frequency stimulation as a potential therapy for neurological conditions."

He says the results of the study, which focused on people with a normal sense of smell, could help professionals - such as perfumers, chefs, or coffee tasters- who need to distinguish aromatic subtleties.

Jang believes the method could also be used to preserve or even enhance the sense of smell.

The research team next plans to conduct a similar study on people with olfactory dysfunction such as anosmia, a complete loss of smell, or hyposmia, a reduced sense of smell.

Jang added: “This will help us determine whether the treatment can truly benefit those who need it most."