Table 2.
Methods used to evaluate taste and smell function.
| Method | Task | Stimuli | Studies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taste | |||
| Recognition threshold (RT) | Lowest concentration a taste can be recognized | Taste strips, whole-mouth solutions, or oral drops | [17,18,20,24,26,27,28] |
| Detection threshold (DT) | Lowest concentration something different from water is detected | Taste strips, whole-mouth solutions, or oral drops | [20,23,24,26] |
| Identification | Identify tastes from a single suprathreshold concentration | Whole-mouth solution | [25] |
| Intensity | Rating on a 10-cm analog scale labeled from “no (taste sensation)” to “extremely (taste sensation)”. | Beverages spiked with tastant | [21] |
| Liking | Rating on a 10-cm analog scale labeled from “dislike extremely” to “like extremely” | Beverages spiked with tastant | [21] |
| Electrogustometry | Lowest detected electrical stimuli (µA) (DT) | Anodal current via gustometer | [22] |
| Preference | Rank samples in order of liking | Beverages spiked with tastants at five concentrations | [17] |
| Smell | |||
| DT | Lowest concentration detected | Pyridine or n-butanol (squeeze bottles or Sniffin’ Sticks) | [17,18,22,28] |
| Discrimination | From three odors, select the odor that is different from two other identical odors (16 triplets presented) | Sniffin’ Sticks | [17,18,28] |
| Identification | Identify the odor from a choice of four options (16 common odors) | Sniffin’ Sticks | [17,18,28] |