The Science

Twenty years of olfactory research

The science behind Aromha is built on over 20 years of olfactory research at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School by our co-founder and neurologist, Dr. Mark Albers, supported by $11M+ in National Institutes of Health grants and multiple completed clinical trials.

Olfactory research under way in the laboratory

The published literature

The research below is what the Aromha Brain Health Test is built on. Every paper links to its listing on PubMed or the publisher.

Olfactory dysfunction

Olfactory dysfunction, the loss of the sense of smell, is increasingly recognized as a significant health concern. Research suggests a strong association between a declining sense of smell and various health issues, including increased mortality, systemic inflammation, and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's.

  1. Towards universal chemosensory testing: needs, barriers, and opportunities

    Steven D. Munger, Kai Zhao, Linda A. Barlow, and colleagues, including Mark W. Albers and Valentina Parma

  2. Association of Olfactory Impairment With All-Cause Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

    Natalie Yan-Lin Pang, Harris Jun Jie Muhammad Danial Song, Benjamin Kye Jyn Tan, and colleagues

  3. Olfactory Dysfunction Predicts 5-Year Mortality in Older Adults

    Jayant M. Pinto, Kristen E. Wroblewski, David W. Kern, L. Philip Schumm, Martha K. McClintock

  4. Inflammation and olfactory loss are associated with at least 139 medical conditions

    Michael Leon, Emily T. Troscianko, Cynthia C. Woo

  5. Rapid olfactory decline during aging predicts dementia and GMV loss in AD brain regions

    Rachel R. Pacyna, S. Duke Han, Kristen E. Wroblewski, Martha K. McClintock, Jayant M. Pinto

  6. Olfactory Dysfunction as a Global Biomarker for Sniffing out Alzheimer's Disease: A Meta-Analysis

    Alisha M. Kotecha, Angelo D. C. Corrêa, Kim M. Fisher, Jo V. Rushworth

  7. Odor identification and progression to dementia: The role of odor characteristics and set size

    Eva Dickmänken, Maria Larsson, Ingrid Ekström, Jonas Olofsson, Giulia Grande, Debora Rizzuto, Erika J. Laukka

  8. At the interface of sensory and motor dysfunctions and Alzheimer's disease

    Mark W. Albers, Grover C. Gilmore, Jeffrey Kaye, and colleagues

  9. Olfactory and cognitive decrements in 1991 Gulf War veterans with Gulf War illness / chronic multisymptom illness

    Linda L. Chao

  10. Olfactory function and discrimination ability in the elderly: a pilot study

    Sae Uchida, Chiho Shimada, Naoko Sakuma, Fusako Kagitani, Akiko Kan, Shuichi Awata

The Aromha Brain Health Test

Beyond the impact of olfactory dysfunction on quality of life, research suggests a strong link between olfactory dysfunction and cognitive impairment. Aromha offers a scientifically tested, non-invasive at-home test for olfactory loss.

  1. AROMHA Brain Health Test: A Remote Olfactory Assessment as a Screen for Cognitive Impairment

    Benoît Jobin, Colin Magdamo, Daniela Delphus, Andreas Runde, Sean Reineke, Alysa Alejandro Soto, Beyzanur Ergun, Alefiya Dhilla Albers, Mark W. Albers

    Scientific Reports, 2025

  2. Episodic memory of odors stratifies Alzheimer biomarkers in normal elderly

    Alefiya Dhilla Albers, Josephine Asafu-Adjei, Mary K. Delaney, and colleagues, including Mark W. Albers

Dementia prevention and intervention

The disparity in early detection of cognitive impairment continues to be a challenge. Adding to the rising burden of Alzheimer's disease is the cost of developing disease-modifying therapies. At the same time, stronger evidence is emerging on the risk factors contributing to dementia, creating a need for timely, equitable, scalable and sustainable detection approaches.

  1. Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2024 report of the Lancet standing Commission

    Gill Livingston, Jonathan Huntley, Kathy Y. Liu, and colleagues

  2. Population Attributable Fraction of Incident Dementia Associated With Hearing Loss

    Emily Ishak, Emily A. Burg, James Russell Pike, and colleagues

  3. The costs of developing treatments for Alzheimer's disease: A retrospective exploration

    Jeffrey L. Cummings, Dana P. Goldman, Nicholas R. Simmons-Stern, Eric Ponton

  4. Prevalence of Unrecognized Cognitive Impairment in Federally Qualified Health Centers

    Ambar Kulshreshtha, Erik S. Parker, Nicole R. Fowler, and colleagues

Multi-modal biomarkers

Imaging, cerebrospinal fluid and blood biomarkers provide diagnostic means to detect Alzheimer's and related dementia, but they are typically used after symptoms appear and can be costly or invasive. Brief olfactory and cognitive assessments have been compared with neuroimaging biomarkers in research settings as lower-cost, non-invasive alternatives; see Devanand et al. below. Aromha provides the olfactory screening test. The wider brain-health pathway it points to is delivered by independent third parties.

  1. Comparison of brief olfactory and cognitive assessments to neuroimaging biomarkers in the prediction of cognitive decline and dementia in the MCSA cohort

    Davangere P. Devanand, Seonjoo Lee, José A. Luchsinger, David Knopman, Maria Vassilaki, Jeffrey N. Motter

  2. Expanding the use of brief cognitive assessments to detect suspected early-stage cognitive impairment in primary care

    Soeren Mattke, Donnie Batie, Joshua Chodosh, and colleagues

  3. Blood protein markers predict 15-year risk of dementia

    Yu Guo, Jin-Tai Yu

Supported by

The research behind the Aromha Brain Health Test has been supported by $11M+ in National Institutes of Health grants and carried out at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Screening built on this research

The Aromha Brain Health Test screens for olfactory loss at home, in about 30 minutes.

Order your test How the test works