Effect of odour on multisensory environmental evaluations of road traffic

Journal Article · Thu Sep 15 04:00:00 EDT 2016 · Environmental Impact Assessment Review

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/J.EIAR.2016.03.002· OSTI ID:22589261

Jiang, Like; Masullo, Massimiliano; Maffei, Luigi

This study investigated the effect of odour on multisensory environmental evaluations of road traffic. The study aimed to answer: (1) Does odour have any effect on evaluations on noise, landscape and the overall environment? (2) How different are participants' responses to odour stimuli and are these differences influential on the evaluations? Experimental scenarios varied in three Traffic levels, three Tree screening conditions and two Odour presence conditions were designed, and presented to participants in virtual reality. Perceived Loudness, Noise Annoyance, Landscape Quality and Overall Pleasantness of each scenario were evaluated and the results were analysed. It shows that Odour presence did not have significant main effect on any of the evaluations, but has significant interactions with Traffic level on Noise Annoyance and with Tree screening on Landscape Quality, indicating the potential of odour to modulate noise and visual landscape perceptions in specific environmental content. Concerning participants' responses to odour stimuli, large differences were found in this study. However, the differences did not seem to be influential on environmental evaluations in this study. Larger samples of participants may benefit this study for more significant results of odour effect.

• OSTI ID: 22589261
• Journal Information: Environmental Impact Assessment Review, Journal Name: Environmental Impact Assessment Review Vol. 60; ISSN 0195-9255; ISSN EIARDK
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ENVIRONMENT
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
EVALUATION
TRAFFIC CONTROL
TRANSPORT