Imagine smelling something that isn’t there. Now imagine if these smells were always around, persisting through everyday life without any apparent reason.
These "phantom odors" occur when someone smells something, but there is nothing in the environment that corresponds to the often unpleasant odors. Though it may seem like a minor irritation, a persistent problem with smells can come with some risks and indicate other health issues, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
About one in 15 people in the study smelled phantom odors, according to researchers from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders who looked at national health survey records between 2011 and 2014 from more than 7,400 people over 40 years old.
