Olfactory Dysfunction Questionnaire (OQ) Test

For people who want to understand a change in everyday smell perception, the Olfactory Dysfunction Questionnaire (OQ) Test offers a focused self-report screen. It is relevant when familiar odours seem weaker, inconsistent, or absent, and the result gives an indication of apparent olfactory impairment. As an olfactory dysfunction test, it can help organize observations before deciding whether further evaluation is useful.

What This Assessment Measures

The questionnaire examines the apparent severity of reduced, absent, or preserved smell detection in ordinary situations. Its items cover food, personal-care, environmental, and warning odours, making the result a structured description of perceived smell detection. This olfactory impairment questionnaire can clarify whether everyday smells seem preserved, reduced, or absent.

The questions represent three practical smell groups:

• Food aromas indicate whether common meal-related smells are noticed.
• Household and personal-care odours indicate detection of soap, shampoo, toothpaste, and toilet odour.
• Smoke and warning odours indicate perception of cigarette smoke, burning, or smoke-like smells.

The result uses one scale, Olfactory Dysfunction, from 0-44, measuring severity of olfactory impairment. The bands are Low impairment 0-17, Moderate impairment 18-38, and High impairment 39-44. The result is intended for screening and monitoring, including disturbances associated with somatic or neurological conditions.

Methodology and Evidence Base

Each item uses a five-point frequency response: Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Often, or Always. The online version does not state how individual response values are converted into the displayed score, so no point-by-point conversion should be inferred. The displayed band supplies the interpretation for this version.

This smell function assessment is conceptually consistent with Olfactory Questionnaire (Kim et al., 2021), a published self-report instrument evaluated alongside conventional psychophysical smell testing. The Russian-language adaptation by Dobretsov and Kashirskiy (2023) offers a related cross-language reference. The cited OQ publications concern related published versions; no validation, translation equivalence, or norms are established for this online presentation unless those facts are verified.

Results can summarize perceived odour ability or track change under similar conditions. Because self-awareness and current context affect responses, congestion, illness, medication, mood, attention, and expectations may influence scores; persistent, sudden, or safety-relevant changes call for broader clinical history and, when appropriate, objective olfactory testing.