Beyond Memory and Attention: Understanding Changes in Smell After Brain Injury
Beyond Memory and Attention: Understanding Changes in Smell After Brain Injury
Loss of smell after brain injury can be an easily overlooked consequence of head trauma. While memory, attention, fatigue, and emotional changes may receive greater attention during recovery, changes in the sense of smell—known as olfactory dysfunction—can also have meaningful effects on safety, wellbeing, and everyday life.
Can Brain Injury Affect the Sense of Smell?
Yes. The processes involved in smell depend on delicate pathways connecting the nose with areas of the brain responsible for processing olfactory information.
Head trauma can potentially disrupt these pathways. Depending on the nature of the injury, an individual may experience anosmia, meaning loss of smell, or hyposmia, meaning a reduced ability to smell. Some people experience altered or distorted smell perception.
However, changes in smell can have different causes. Appropriate clinical investigation is therefore important rather than assuming that every olfactory change following an injury has the same explanation.
Looking Beyond the Most Obvious Symptoms
Brain injury can produce a complex combination of cognitive, emotional, behavioural, physical, and sensory changes.
A comprehensive clinical history should therefore consider the individual’s wider experience rather than concentrating exclusively on the most obvious cognitive complaints.
Where changes in smell occur alongside difficulties with memory, attention, executive functioning, behaviour, or emotional wellbeing, they may contribute to the broader clinical picture considered during a neuropsychological assessment.
Neuropsychological assessment can help characterise cognitive and behavioural functioning following brain injury, while suspected olfactory impairment may also require appropriate medical or specialist sensory assessment.
Understanding the Impact on Everyday Life
The significance of a symptom cannot always be determined by how visible it is.
Understanding how changes in smell affect eating, safety, routines, emotional wellbeing, confidence, and independence can help clinicians appreciate their functional impact and consider whether further investigation or support may be appropriate.
Neuropsychological Assessment at The London Neurocognitive Clinic
At The London Neurocognitive Clinic, our approach to neuropsychological assessment considers the wider impact of neurological injury alongside detailed evaluation of cognitive functioning. By understanding cognitive concerns within the context of an individual’s neurological history, emotional wellbeing, symptoms, and everyday functioning, our neuropsychologists aim to develop a clinically meaningful picture that can inform appropriate recommendations and next steps.
