New Technique Helps Brain Learn To Smell Again

Imagine you wake up one day and suddenly can't smell anything.

No coffee brewing, no bacon sizzling in the pan. And this isn't a stuffy nose. It's more like the on/off switch in your brain has been flipped.

Doctors can prescribe steroids or nasal sprays. Surgery is sometimes an option, but for many patients, a lack of smell lingers for months — often years.

But as Todd Bookman from Here & Now contributor WHYY's The Pulse reports, there's a new technique that relies on the brain re-learning how to smell.

Todd Bookman, reporter for WHYY in Philadelphia. He tweets @toddbookman.