Towards a human ecology of olfaction in the built environment

We know little about human olfactory ability in natural settings, for humans this includes urban and rural built environments. Our knowledge derives from clinics and lab experiments using samples of convenience, often students and usually WEIRD. But, humans live in odor rich environments, most are not western, and many are not industrialized or educated. The problem is that we lack field methods for studying olfactory ability outside the lab and cannot fully understand olfaction within an ecological setting. To understand the impact of varying test environments on olfactory ability, we conducted two tests: short odor identification in two locations, repeated measures short odor identification in three locations. Odor purity and background odors are not mitigated as the goal is to assess olfactory ability in quotidian life. Results indicated that environment is not a significant factor in olfactory ability and that olfactory ability is much worse in natural settings than in the lab. Further testing of the influence of variation in air quality and volatiles during non-lab testing bouts is a logical next step. More importantly, how can we reconcile measures of healthy olfaction in the lab with olfactory dysfunction in natural settings? Finally, widening representation of human populations (including indigenous groups practicing traditional subsistence) is a logical next step in understanding how much the built environment is disrupting our sense of smell. This study is a valuable first step in exploring the human ecology of olfaction.