Using an olfactometer to deliver two odorants separately the latency between their perception was found to range from 0 to 580 ms depending on the odorants used. This paper reports the use of a Sniff Olfactometer (SO) to make similar measurements on mixtures of benzaldehyde:carvone, benzaldehyde:trichloroanisole and trichloroanisole:carvone. The thresholds in 7% ethanol solution were determined for all compounds, for several subjects. These thresholds were used to estimate the Equal Odds Ratio (EOR): the concentrations of two compounds at which they are percieved at equal probability in a forced choice identification task. Beginning with the estimated EORs the experimental EORs was determined by an iterative process. The SO was programed in two ways 1.) to deliver the two compounds at their EOR in a mixture as a single puff, and 2.) delivered separately from two different sources two puffs with varying delays between 0 and 1000ms. The response to the binary mixtures at their EOR concentrations were compared with the responses to separate puffs. Plots of the responses at different latencies were linear and characteristic of the binary pair.

Using sniff olfactometry to measure olfactory latency

254th National Meeting (2017)

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