# What is your weakest sense? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 4, 2019, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011 "2019-04-04T00:03:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/1 "2019-04-04T00:03:18Z")
For purposes of this thread I have identified the following 10 senses: [ul] [li]Vision[/li][li]Hearing[/li][li]Smell[/li][li]Touch[/li][li]Taste[/li][li]Proprioception/kinesthetic: the ability to innately detect the position and movement of your appendages, muscles, and other body parts in space.[/li][li]Thermoception: the ability to perceive temperature.[/li][li]Chronoception: the perception of time.[/li][li]Nociception: the ability to sense pain.[/li][li]Equilibrioception: your sense of balance.[/li][/ul] Which of these is your weakest? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/2 "2019-04-04T00:09:09Z")
For me, smell, by far. My wife likes to put stuff like scented candles in my face and ask me if I can smell it. I almost never can. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/3 "2019-04-04T00:12:14Z")
Fashion ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/4 "2019-04-04T00:15:26Z")
Smell. By far. Too many years and gallons of paint and other finishes sprayed. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/5 "2019-04-04T00:17:08Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Fashion Damn it! Beat me by 5 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/6 "2019-04-04T00:19:49Z")
Smell - my allergies often interfere with it, and some days I have very little scent perception. On the rare occasions my nose IS working it can really make an impact because I’m getting input I normally don’t. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/7 "2019-04-04T00:26:09Z")
Mine is vision. I’m functionally blind I’m my right eye, with a measured visual acuity of 20/200. This is a result of a perforated cornea and two subsequent corneal transplants, the first when I was 21. Luckily my left eye is fine, but I do lack depth perception. I’ve always wanted to wear a pirate style eye patch, but my wife won’t let me 😃 ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/8 "2019-04-04T00:26:44Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Damn it! Beat me by 5 minutes. Gotta get up pretty early to beat me! And by “pretty early” I mean “sometime in the late afternoon.” ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/9 "2019-04-04T00:29:51Z")
Well, my sight has been fixed with cataract surgery, so now that’s as good as it’s ever been (had glasses or contacts since third grade, I still wear a contact in one eye). My sense of smell is pretty bad, but hearing is the worst. I do have hearing aids, and they work great in certain circumstances, and suck in others. So hearing is the worst I would say. In any case, it affects others a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/10 "2019-04-04T01:04:58Z")
Depends on what you mean by “weakest”. I can hear just fine (“my mother had me tested”), but it is the worst way for me to get information to stick to my brain. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/11 "2019-04-04T01:20:12Z")
Vision. Hearing isn’t too far behind. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/12 "2019-04-04T01:30:19Z")
You added all those options and left out “common”? Sheesh. I didn’t vote as there is no universal way to compare senses, and/or because I don’t have a strength measurement for my senses. ---
**Author:** ![Time\_Like\_Tears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@Time\_Like\_Tears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Time_Like_Tears)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/13 "2019-04-04T06:29:03Z")
Had to answer ‘more than one’. With Multiple Sclerosis, it’s getting harder by the year to pinpoint which would be the weakest. For me, it’s a toss-up between vision (optic nerve atrophy, diplopia, other optic boogeymen), proprioception (often if I am not looking at a body part, I couldn’t tell you exactly where it was [yes, I whang my head a lot]), touch in general and nociception (about 15% and rising of my legs are completely devoid of sensation, and I have grown so accustomed to chronic pain that honestly the descriptors have lost all meaning) and equilibrioception (I walk like I’m on a small boat in stormy seas). Thankfully the progression has been slow enough that I’ve been able to adapt fairly well, I think! I also suspect my hearing, smell, and palate have gotten better - though this could just be those things being the last normal senses in this 38 year old body so they stand out. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/14 "2019-04-04T06:37:23Z")
Eyes. I shoulda listened when my Mom said reading without proper lighting would ruin my eyes. Alas, I did not. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/15 "2019-04-04T07:01:42Z")
Assuming ‘weakest’ to be something like ‘where you personally are furthest below the human average’ I’m going to have to go with proprioception - I have very little knowledge of where my limbs are unless I’m looking at them and am quite prone to waving my arms about wildly and knocking things over ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/16 "2019-04-04T07:01:46Z")
Common ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/17 "2019-04-04T08:47:43Z")
I smell pretty bad. I look … OK, but can’t see all colors, or read text up close. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/18 "2019-04-04T09:21:47Z")
Vision, definitely. Not that I’m blind or anything, but I’m very myopic and astigmatic, and my night-vision is also piss-poor. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/19 "2019-04-04T10:16:49Z")
I have no sense of smell at all, and never had, so that’s the one. I’m surprised to see so many with an impaired sense of smell—usually, when I tell people about my anosmia, they appear like they’ve never heard of it (the condition, not the word) at all. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011/20 "2019-04-04T10:31:22Z")
Smell. I’m congested _almost_ but not all of the time so I know that it’s not congenitally poor. On the rare occasions I’m not stuffed up, I’ve noticed things that I didn’t realize had a smell, like cut cucumbers, actually do. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-weakest-sense/832011.md?page=2)