Personal Monitors: A State-of-the-Art Survey

Abstract

Recent advances in technology have resulted in the development of a number of small lightweight devices that can be carried by a person throughout the day to record his or her exposure to selected air pollutants. The essential characteristics, advantages, and problems associated with personal monitors are discussed and compared to the characteristics of fixed-station monitoring. Personal monitors generally are superior to fixed monitors for estimating personal exposure, at least for selected air pollutants. They make it possible to collect data on pollutant concentrations that people normally come into contact with throughout their daily activities—indoors, outdoors, and in various modes of transportation. These new instruments ultimately could transform the way in which human exposure to air pollution is estimated.