What Paule Joseph has said about Parosmia

2 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 Parosmia 2 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 says a small group of COVID patients developed parosmia, in which familiar smells become distorted, which she considers harder to live with than total loss.

    “some of them have developed parasmia, which is an absence of distortion. For example, your coffee smells like burning garbage”

    TED Radio Hour: Big mysteries explained through your senses (Sep 18, 2026) · Listen from 31:49

  • Joseph says her team is scanning parosmia patients with fMRI to understand what brain signals change during smell distortion.

    “we're getting individuals with parosmia and putting them inside a scanner to understand through, you know, fMRI, just scanning their brain, what signals are changing?”

    TED Radio Hour: Big mysteries explained through your senses (Sep 18, 2026) · Listen from 32:59

Episodes

Paule Joseph on other topics