Abstract

In the present study, a comprehensive experimental set up has been conducted to observe the effect of three different building materials, i.e. carpet, paint and linoleum, on perceived air quality. A sensory panel perceived the quality of polluted air in three different settings consisting of individual materials, a combination of different building materials and a mixture of odors generated by single materials. The results of this investigation show that the exposure response curve can vary from one material to another material and from human bioeffluent. The findings from this study confirm the results of previous studies which show the impact of dilution of polluted air on the perceived air quality varies between building products and human bioeffluent. The results of this experimental procedure also show that that interaction effect among building materials from perception point of view is very negligible. This is due to the fact that the acceptability level caused by combination and mixing set ups of materials were not statistically different. Further investigation shows that linear addition of Olfs can be used to estimate the quality of perceived air in the presence of any combination of these specific types of building materials