A new index for predicting differences in repeatability of Time-Intensity curves: Time-Intensity Reliability Index (TI-RI)

The Time-Intensity (TI) method evaluates the perceived intensity of a sensation over time, and it is a suitable method to measure perception changes during and/or after consumption. Compared to static methods, TI requires additional training and more replicates to obtain reliable results. In order to investigate intra-individual variation for the same panelist, this study proposes a new index called Time-Intensity Reliability Index (TI-RI). The TI-RI was tested with a dataset obtained from the sensory evaluation of four types of aromatized wine matrices by a trained panel. The proposed index is able to predict differences in panelists’ repeatability of TI curves and it could be used to assess the precision of other sources of variation such as products, attributes and replicates.