Impact of odour with high annoyance potential on human feeling, activity, and mood in odorimetric studies

Abstract

Introduction. It is known that an extraneous odour can cause an adverse emotional reaction of a person and, as a result, reduce the quality of life, which is most likely the reason for a large number of complaints of air pollution from the population. The converse statement about the influence of a person’s emotional state on his/her perception of a smell can also be true. An assessment of the relationship between odour characteristics and emotional state of a person can be investigated in a laboratory olfactory-odorimetric study with the participation of specially trained investigators. The aim of this study was to analyze in laboratory conditions the impact of odour with high annoyance potential on human feeling, activity, and mood. Materials and methods. Ten 26-71-years healthy investigators of both genders, who have been psychologically tested with a block of standard psychological questionnaires to evaluate emotional stress expression and quality of life, took part in 2 series of odorimetric studies on the ECOMA T08 olfactometer. During this study, they assessed the odour intensity and annoying effect of multicomponent odorant with isopropyl mercaptan, ethyl mercaptan, and 2-butanethiol largest contribution (unpleasant odour). The influence of the odour on investigators’ feeling, activity, and mood before, during, and after odorimetry was determined using a FAM (feeling, activity, and mood) test card. The study results showed the perception of unpleasant smell to be connected with investigators’ age, emotional state at the time of odorimetry, and some indices of the life quality. It is established that the perception of the smell in its tangible concentrations can lead to increased activity and improved mood. At the same time, exposure to the odour in higher concentrations, in most cases, was associated with decreased activity and mood, as well as - for some investigators - with decrease of feelings regardless of age. The given work results comparison with data obtained in the only similar study of odour emissions of chewing gum production carried out with a common methodic approach and on the same equipment, demonstrated a qualitative similarity in the perception of an extraneous odour of different hedonic tone: a connection with age, background emotional state, and quality of life indicators. Moreover, it was revealed odours of different hedonic tones to influenced in the same way on investigators’ activity and mood indices. Conclusion. Although the obtained results do not allow us to unambiguously conclude which odour strength (concentration of odorous substances) is an unacceptable value for all investigators, the similar research implementation is necessary to study the odour impact on the human adaptation systems. In addition, the data obtained allow us to conclude that all complaints of the presence of an extraneous odour of any character and hedonic tone, are most often justified, deserve careful attention and a quick response from the sanitary services.