Item

Muted Sense of Smell

Media

Title (Dublin Core)

Muted Sense of Smell

Description (Dublin Core)

COVID-19 re-created a living paradigm I had experienced living in Japan for many years of wearing a mask in public, usually on public transportation or during flu season. Although I did not wear it all the time, when I did wear it my sense of smell would of course be muted, or I would smell my own breath. It would also bring to my attention what I perceived others would smell when I spoke with them making me more self-conscience of my breath (and increasing gum and mint purchases). Although I found it uncomfortable, I would deal with it for the short periods of time it was necessary.

When the COVID-19 government responses in the US required the use of a mask in public, I found myself back in unpleasantly familiar sensation of having to wear a mask, but now one made of cloth, since disposable paper ones were hard to acquire or reserved for health care workers. Of course, said mask has been washed and dried with perfumed detergents further muting the sense of smell. What also made it worse was the fuzzy lint strings that existed on the inside of any mask (cloth or paper) that would tickle the nose and inducing a sneeze, unleashing a round of stares from strangers nearby.

Overall, I have grown used to it, but the behavioral shift in wearing, washing, gathering, and staging of a mask that has become a norm, and so has the muted sense of smell. Sometimes a blessing and sometimes a curse.

Date (Dublin Core)

October 13, 2020

Creator (Dublin Core)

Matt Butow

Contributor (Dublin Core)

Matt Butow

Event Identifier (Dublin Core)

HST643

Partner (Dublin Core)

Arizona State University

Type (Dublin Core)

audio recording
text story

Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)

English Community & Community Organizations
English Health & Wellness
English Emotion

Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)

mask
smell
mask requirement
breath

Contributor's Tags (a true folksonomy) (Friend of a Friend)

masks
smell
nose-blind
ASU
HST643

Linked Data (Dublin Core)

Sensory history contribution to COVID-19 Archive

Date Submitted (Dublin Core)

10/13/2020

Date Modified (Dublin Core)

10/13/2020
4/9/2021

Item sets

Covid 19
Arizona State University

This item was submitted on October 13, 2020 by Matt Butow using the form “Share Your Story” on the site “A Journal of the Plague Year”: https://www.covid-19archive.org/s/archive

Click here to view the collected data.

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