Alteration of perceived fragrance of essential oils in relation to type ofwork: a simple screening test for efficacy of aroma

The perceptional change of fragrance of essential oils is described in rela tion to type of work, i.e. mental work, physical work and hearing environme ntal (natural) sounds. The essential oils examined in this study were ylang ylang, orange, geranium, cypress, bergamot, spearmint and juniper. In eval uating change in perception of a given aroma, a sensory test was employed i n which the perception of fragrance was assessed by 13 contrasting pairs of adjectives. Scores were recorded after inhaling a fragrance before and aft er each type of work, and the statistical significance of the change of sco re for 13 impression descriptors was examined by Student's t-test for each type of work. it was confirmed that inhalation of essential oil caused a di fferent subjective perception of fragrance depending on the type of work. F or example, inhalation of cypress after physical work produced a much more favorable impression than before work, in contrast to orange, which produce d an unfavorable impression after physical work when compared with that bef ore work. For mental work, inhalation of juniper seemed to create a favorab le impression after work, whereas geranium and orange both produced an unfa vorable impression then. From these studies, together with those conducted previously with lavender, rosemary, linalool, peppermint, marjoram, cardamo m, sandalwood, basil and lime, we thus concluded that the sensory test desc ribed here might serve not only as a screening test for efficacy of aroma b ut also as a categorized table for aroma samples which can act as a referen ce to each other.