Relation of odor flow rate and duration to stimulus intensity needed for perception.

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Abstract
To ascertain the influence of stimulus flow rate and duration on olfactory perception of n-butane in N2, thresholds were measured in 8 adults for 16 combinations of 4 flow rates (10, 20, 40, 80 ml N2/sec) and 4 durations (0.25, 0.50, 1.00, and 2.00 sec). Expressed as total amount of odorant, thresholds were highest at the fastest flow rates and longest durations. Expressed as concentration of odor, thresholds were highest at the slowest flow rates and shortest durations. Analysis of variance showed that flow rate and duration separately and flow-duration interaction significantly contributed to the observed variance. It was concluded that the critical condition for perception is that sufficient odor molecules strike the end organ within a given period of time and that this condition could be defined as a critical intranasal odor rate or as a critical intranasal concentration.

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