Hedonics of Odors and Odor Descriptors

Abstract

The hedonic tone (pleasantness-unpleasantness) of an air pollution odor depends on its character and influences how annoying the odor may be. In the context of air pollution, both unpleasant and pleasant odors may become objectionable, while this is less likely for hedonically neutral odors. A profile of an odor consists of a list of odor descriptors and ratings of the applicabilities of each of the descriptors to the odor being characterized. The working hypothesis was that each of the descriptors can be assigned its own hedonic connotation (tone) from very pleasant, through neutral, to the very unpleasant. The hedonic tones of the descriptors could then be combined with the descriptor applicability percentages over the entire profile, producing a profile-derived hedonic index. The data that were used were profiles of odors and the hedonic ratings of the same odors made directly upon smelling these odors, obtained independently of the study.