Olfactory and gustatory impairment

Impairment of the sense of smell and taste are commonly associated with aging but can also occur in younger people due to a wide variety of causes.

Further information: Olfaction#Disorders of olfaction

There are various olfactory disorders:

• Anosmia – inability to smell
• Dysosmia – things smell different than they should
• Hyperosmia – an abnormally acute sense of smell.
• Hyposmia – decreased ability to smell
• Olfactory Reference Syndrome – psychological disorder which causes the patient to imagine he has strong body odor
• Parosmia – things smell worse than they should
• Phantosmia – "hallucinated smell," often unpleasant in nature

Further information: Taste#Disorders of taste

Complete loss of the sense of taste is known as ageusia, while dysgeusia is persistent abnormal sense of taste