Assessment of odour awareness of indoor pollution among rural and urban homemakers ofLudhiana city

Abstract

There seem to be substantial individual differences in the role that odours play in\rpeople’s lives. Whereas some individuals are always spontaneously commenting on any odour in the\rroom, others only notice these features after they have been pointed out to them. This characteristic\ris most likely related to individual differences. Being capable of quickly assessing people’s odour\rawareness may prove useful in predicting their reactions to environmental odours in various indoor\rsettings where annoyance or adverse health effects may be an issue. Keeping the concern and\rsignificance of indoor pollution in mind a study was planned with the objective to assess the indoor\rpollution subjectively from rural and urban houses’’. A modified ‘Odour Awareness Scale’ (OAS) was\rused. Study revealed that according to ‘Odour Awareness Scale’ people have different abilities to get\rattracted to differentiate and get repelled by indoor odours. Maximum awareness was for the positive/\rpleasant odours (Mean score = 3.73) which meant noticing the pleasant odour of fresh leaves and\rflowers both indoors and outdoors, smell of cooking food from own kitchen and neighborhood’s; and\rgetting aware of pleasant odour in air. The awareness was high for rural respondents (Mean score =\r3.81) as compared to urban (Mean score = 3.64). Unpleasant odour awareness was next in the order\r(Mean score = 3.70); and it was higher amongst urban respondents (Mean score = 3.75) in comparison\rto rural counterparts (Mean score = 3.64). Negative odours included general unpleasant smell prevailingin the environment, smell of used, soiled clothes and smell of burnt food or smoked milk.