Possibilities of special educational support of olfactory perception in people with visual impairment based on olfactory examination

Olfactory sense is considered as one of the compensatory senses in the speciál educational practice. The advanced thesis is focused on examination of olfactory sense in people with visual impairment. In order to fulfil the aim of the thesis, the standardized tests of olfactory perception UPS1T and STT were utilized. Furthermore the tested people were asked their subjective perception in using the olfactory sense in everyday life. 154 probands, 77 individuals with visual impairment (45 men and 32 women) and 77 individuals from a control group participated in the research. The condition for people with visual impairment to join the research was determined if the incidence of visual impairment was for longer than five years and the level of visual impairment (according to WHO, 1992) within the category of low vision, blindness and unqualified visual loss. People from the control group were chosen to match the participants with visual impairment in age and sex. One of the applied methods was the critical analyses of professional literature in order to understand the structure of olfactory analysers, the process of transformation in olfactory information, the level of olfactory perception during the development and maturation of individual, and the function of olfactory sense in people with visual impairment..