What Paule Joseph has said about Olfaction and sniff training

6 quotes · 1 episode · Sep 18, 2026

Paule Joseph, Chemosensory researcher and senior investigator at the National Institutes of Health, co-director of the National Smell and Taste Center, has been quoted on Olfaction and sniff training 6 times in 1 episode of TED Radio Hour, most recently on September 18, 2026. Each quote below is verbatim and links to the moment it was said.

In their words

  • Joseph describes smell as an evolutionarily preserved survival system that detects airborne threats before they are seen or heard.

    “it detects airborne threats like smoke, fire, toxic chemicals that are in the environment, including predators, before they can be seen or heard”

    TED Radio Hour: Big mysteries explained through your senses (Sep 18, 2026) · Listen from 26:24

  • Joseph says smell decline appears years before other symptoms in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and frontotemporal dementia.

    “we see that in individuals with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease and even frontal temporal lobe dementia, the sense of smell is decreased early, like years before any other symptoms appear”

    TED Radio Hour: Big mysteries explained through your senses (Sep 18, 2026) · Listen from 28:41

  • Joseph argues that primary care physicians should at minimum screen for smell loss and refer patients, noting no specialty currently owns the test.

    “if you ask me who should be doing this test, I would say at a minimum, primary care should be screening and then doing the proper referrals”

    TED Radio Hour: Big mysteries explained through your senses (Sep 18, 2026) · Listen from 30:02

  • Joseph says what matters clinically is not whether smell is perfect but whether it changed suddenly and failed to return.

    “what matters is not whether your smell is perfect, it's whether it changed, especially if this change is suddenly and it has not come back”

    TED Radio Hour: Big mysteries explained through your senses (Sep 18, 2026) · Listen from 31:06

  • Joseph says treatment options are limited to olfactory training, which works for some people but not others, and virus-caused loss can regenerate if caught early.

    “We don't have a lot of treatment when it comes to smell and taste. We primarily have, you know, olfactory training is one of the things that we tend to recommend to individuals”

    TED Radio Hour: Big mysteries explained through your senses (Sep 18, 2026) · Listen from 37:18

  • Joseph recommends practicing everyday olfactory training, such as deliberately smelling spices while cooking.

    “you can do this even when you're cooking at home, right? Just get something out of your cabinet when you're putting the spices in”

    TED Radio Hour: Big mysteries explained through your senses (Sep 18, 2026) · Listen from 41:46

Episodes

Paule Joseph on other topics