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Smell disorders have long been neglected, despite known links to Parkinson's, dementia and shorter life expectancy.
Recent public and patient engagement work by the charity Fifth Sense has shown a failure to provide a good service for people affected by smell disorders in the UK. It also showed the need for better treatment and support.
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Smell training, a type of smell care, has been the subject of several studies, showing that it can help recover smell function. This is particularly true in older age, where people suffer a natural decline of the sense of smell. However, current smell training methods are limited to pens soaked in smells or jars of essential oils. A digital solution can overcome these drawbacks and enable digital smell training. This may be delivered in multiple settings including medical, care homes and private homes. The latter sits at the heart of Smell Care’s ambition, namely, to enable smell self-care at home.

Building on previous R&D work carried out as part of the SmellHealth project, this EPSRC/NHIR-funded project aims to answer is how and why people will take on and accept i-smell, and keep using it in regular, daily exercises. We all know how hard it is work to set up a routine, and how sticking with it is even harder. Whilst more and more people in the wider population have become aware of the importance of smell care as a result of the pandemic, this is easily forgotten and lost when the sense of smell works or seems to work 'well' again.

A number of households will take part in a 6-month feasibility study using a novel digital technology in their homes and will provide first-hand early-stage user feedback. We aim to establish a clear understanding of people's underlying reasons, opinions and motivations to engage with i-smell over time.Ìý

This feasibility study will inform the design of future health and care technology solutions, as well as informing the design of future clinical and population trials. It will also allow us to explore designs for tomorrow's home that go beyond the current focus on control of environmental conditions such as energy, lighting, temperature and humidity. We will consider how this type of technology will work with existing smart home devices such as Gohisogle Home or Alexa.

Our long-term vision is to add self-monitoring records for our sense of smell (akin to hearing and sight tests) into electronic health records (EHR). This would provide a great opportunity to make treatments personal for individuals and allow timely actions by GPs. For example, data could be analysed by artificial intelligence that could in turn lead to earlier diagnosis of diseases like Parkinson's by a decade. Introducing digital solutions for smell self-care can help maintain and extend independent living at home and improve the quality of life.

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