What is olfactometry?
Olfactometry is aimed at characterising environmental odours, relevant to human beings. As no methods exist at present that simulate and predict the responses of our sense of smell satisfactorily, the human nose is the most suitable ‘sensor’. Objective methods have been developed to establish odour concentration, using human assessors. A European standard applies to odour concentration measurement: – CEN EN 13725:2003, Air quality – Determination of odour concentration by dynamic olfactometry. Olfactometry employs a panel of human noses as sensors. A human nose can detect odour at concentrations well below the sensitivity levels of chemical analytical methods. In the olfactometry testing procedure, a diluted odorous mixture and an odour-free gas (as a reference) are presented separately from two sniffing ports to a group of six panellists simultaneously. In comparing the gases emitted from each port, the panellists are asked to report the presence of odour together with a confidence le
