title: A screening tool for selection of field odor assessors.
abstract: Field odor assessors are required to rate or describe several odor parameters, such as intensity, duration, offensiveness, and character. Ideally, their assessments should reflect the average odor perception of a specific community. The authors developed a three-part screening test for recruiting odor assessors: (1) distinguishing between different odorants by means of a triangular forced-choice test; (2) evaluating odor intensity; and (3) describing hedonic tone and odor character. Grading was based on two criteria: correctly answering the relevant parts of the test, and evaluation of odor parameters relative to the entire tested population. The latter involved grading each tested individual according to the similarity of their score to the average result of 179 tested individuals, comprising 48% women and 52% men whose age and residence distributions were identical between women and men (except for the oldest group). To exclude relatively less sensitive individuals who showed poor ability to distinguish between different odorants and various odor intensities, and/or provided atypical description (or rating) of odor intensity, character, and offensiveness, it was suggested that only individuals whose final score was within the upper 75% (final score +/- 80.75) would be qualified as odor assessors. According to this criterion, 73.8% of men and 78.6% of women passed the test. Among urban and rural dwellers, 77.4% and 67.4%, respectively, were qualified. Pass rate clearly diminished with increasing age: from 89.3% at 21-30 years to 54.6% at 61-70 years. This screening tool is recommended by the Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection for selection of field odor assessors to serve the general community and regulatory authorities.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Soil, Water, and Environmental Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, Newe Ya'ar Research Center, Ramat Yishay, Israel. laor@agri.gov.il
authors.forename: Yael
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Laor
authors.forename: Pola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Orenstein
authors.forename: Uzi
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ravid
authors.forename: Rima
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Baybikov
authors.forename: Aviva
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hanan
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Saadi
authors.forename: Yael
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Abbou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009812:Odorants / Q000032:analysis*; D010465:Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants