Validation of novel odor delivery presentation for human olfactory testing
Fri-P2-074
Presented by: Matthew Andres
Careful control of perceptual stimuli is essential for collecting robust psychophysical data. In static olfactometry, odors are commonly diluted in an odorless solvent and presented to panelists in a rigid container. In this delivery method, the amount of odor is typically quantified as a liquid dilution rather than the concentration in vapor phase. While the number of molecules present in the vapor phase at steady state follows Raoult’s law for ideal solutions or Henry’s law for ideal dilute solutions it is not uncommon to observe deviations from these laws (Haring, 1974). In addition, sniffing from a rigid container draws in room air along with the stimulus, thereby diluting the stimulus. To address these issues, we developed a static odor delivery system that uses gas-sampling bags. To validate this method, 15 trained panelists rated the perceived intensity of seven concentrations of two odors (benzaldehyde and 2-heptanone) on a generalized Labeled Magnitude Scale for both gas-sampling bags and glass jars. Panelists more consistently reported the intensity of the gas-sampling bags (r = 0.88) than the glass jars (r = 0.81, p < 0.005). In addition, the maximum reported intensity of a fitted concentration-intensity curve was higher for gas-sampling bags than for jars (p < 0.001) - and odors had different max intensities in bags (p < 0.001), but not jars (p = 0.93). Gas-sampling bags are a valuable tool for olfactory psychophysics, eliminating the need for liquid solvents and the confound of dilution from room air.