Odors qualitative description

Since the characterization of odor is critical to the technical development of medical textile materials for odor control, it is important to have a quantitative assessment method that can offer a detailed classification of body odor. In this respect, many attempts have been made to establish qualitative description and quantitative grading of body odor. For example, six descriptive terms can be used to describe axillary sweat extracts acid, chicken broth, onion, sweat (acrid), butter, and floral. The intensity of the different types of smells can be graded on an 11-point intensity scale from 0 (none) to 10 (very strong), using which a highly trained panel of assessors can carry out a reasonably accurate assessment of body odors. 

Four characteristics of odor are subject to measurement by sensory techniques intensity, detectability, character (quality), and hedonic tone (pleasantness-unpleasantness) (16). Odor intensity is the magnitude of the perceived sensation and is classified by a descriptive scale, e.g., faint-moderate-strong, or a 1-10 numerical scale. The detectability of an odor or threshold limit is not an absolute level but depends on how the odorant is present, e.g., alone or in a mixture. Odor character or qualit) is the characteristic which permits its description or classification by comparison to other odors, i.e., sweet or sour, or like that of a skunk. The last characteristic is the hedonic type, which refers to the acceptability of an odorant. For the infrequent visitor, the smell of a large commercial bread bakery may be of high intensity but pleasant. For the nearby resident, the smell may be less acceptable. 

The presence of iodoform is detected by its characteristic odor or by formation of crysts. Other ketones, as well as aldehydes and alcohol interfere and should be detd separately. Description of qualitative test is given in Ref 16, p 619... 

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