Olfactory Environmental Quality in Office Environments: A Neuroarchitecture Study of Multimodal Responses to Contrasting Hedonic Ambient Odors

Ambient odors contribute to occupants′ sensory and experiential engagement with indoor environments but are not conventionally treated as indoor air quality (IAQ) parameters. This neuroarchitecture study examined olfactory environmental quality through multimodal responses to contrasting hedonic ambient odors in office environments. Fourteen healthy adults (seven females, seven males) completed a within‐subjects experiment involving a pleasant jasmine condition and an unpleasant rotten orange peel condition in physically identical office rooms. Electroencephalography (EEG), electrodermal activity (EDA), blood volume pulse‐derived pulse rate variability (PRV), One Touch Stockings (OTS) task performance, questionnaires, and postsession interviews were collected. Participants reported greater enjoyment ( p = 0.041) and lower annoyance ( p = 0.023) and discomfort ( p = 0.014) in the jasmine condition than in the rotten orange peel condition. They also rated the jasmine room as more proportionate than the rotten orange peel room ( M = 3.00 vs. 2.71, p = 0.046), despite the rooms′ identical physical dimensions; because this finding was based on a single study‐specific item, it should be interpreted as exploratory. OTS performance showed no significant overall effect of odor condition. Region‐level EEG functional connectivity analysis did not identify statistically robust condition‐related differences after correction for multiple comparisons, whereas peripheral autonomic analyses likewise did not provide statistically robust evidence of condition‐related differences. Overall, the odor conditions were differentiated most consistently in subjective emotional and environmental evaluations, whereas evidence for differences in objective measures was limited in this small sample. Ambient odor may therefore be understood as a perceptual and experiential dimension of indoor environmental quality that complements conventional IAQ assessment. Larger studies using quantitatively characterized odor exposures, validated perceptual measures, longer physiological recordings, and more ecologically representative workplace settings are needed.