Smell & Taste Clinic, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, TU Dresden, Germany; University of Wroclaw, Institute of Psychology, Wroclaw, Poland.
Smell & Taste Clinic, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, TU Dresden, Germany.
J Neurosci Methods. 2018 Aug 1;306:88-91. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2018.05.012. Epub 2018 May 18.
Human olfactory sensitivity is known to vary significantly across subjects. Furthermore, environmental factors such as background noise and odor are known to affect target odor threshold scores but have not yet been fully delineated. We aimed to determine whether congruent and non-congruent background odor impaired target odor threshold scores.
We performed odor threshold testing in 103 normosmic adults, using phenylethylalcohol (PEA) or linalool as target odors, under three conditions: (a) congruent target and background odors (e.g., PEA in the test and PEA in the background), (b) non-congruent target and background odors (e.g. PEA in the test and Linalool in the background) and (c) no background odor. Background odor was applied to the investigator's glove and testing was performed in an otherwise odorless room.
We found that congruent background odors significantly impaired target odor threshold scores. Non-congruent background odors also impaired target odor threshold, but significantly more so with PEA as target and Linalool as background odor. The best threshold scores were obtained with no background odor. Comparison with Existing Method(s). At present, many testing environments may be contaminated with ambient background odors. We have shown that this may negatively affect odor threshold scores, particularly where background and target odors are congruent.
We suggest that investigators performing odor threshold testing do so in well ventilated, odor free environments.
人类嗅觉敏感性在不同个体之间存在显著差异。此外，环境因素如背景噪音和气味也已知会影响目标气味阈值分数，但尚未得到充分描述。我们旨在确定一致和不一致的背景气味是否会损害目标气味阈值分数。
我们在 103 名嗅觉正常的成年人中进行了气味阈值测试，使用苯乙醇（PEA）或芳樟醇作为目标气味，在三种条件下进行：（a）一致的目标和背景气味（例如，测试中的 PEA 和背景中的 PEA），（b）不一致的目标和背景气味（例如，测试中的 PEA 和背景中的芳樟醇）和（c）无背景气味。背景气味应用于调查员的手套，在没有其他气味的房间中进行测试。
我们发现一致的背景气味显著损害了目标气味阈值分数。不一致的背景气味也会损害目标气味阈值，但当目标是 PEA 而背景是芳樟醇时，损害更为明显。在没有背景气味的情况下，阈值分数最佳。与现有方法的比较。目前，许多测试环境可能受到环境背景气味的污染。我们已经表明，这可能会对气味阈值分数产生负面影响，特别是在背景和目标气味一致的情况下。
我们建议进行气味阈值测试的研究人员在通风良好、无气味的环境中进行测试。
