A novel approach based on EEG Entropy measurement for indoor human thermal comfort estimation

Abstract

This paper presents a methodology for the application of electroencephalographic (EEG) Entropy measurements for indoor thermal comfort estimation. Wearables have been demonstrated to be capable of providing accurate physiological measurements to interpret individual thermal responses. Several studies demonstrated the correlation between the EEG Power Spectrum Density (PSD) variation and the subjects' responses exposed to different ambient temperatures. We present a complementary approach based on Approximate Entropy (ApEn) of EEG as a measure for the predictability of EEG series in describing the human thermal condition. We analysed the ApEn of EEG signals acquired from 24 subjects, exposed to three different temperatures (cold: 16°C; neutral: 25°C; warm: 33°C) in a controlled environment, by 4-channels wearable EEG sensors (256 Hz sampling frequency). Statistical analysis showed for both anterior frontal and temporoparietal sites significant differences between neutral, cold, and warm conditions, with a higher value of ApEn in the neutral one. In the anterior frontal area, there was a significative trend of ApEn with smaller values from the neutral to the warm condition, with the cold intermediate. The outcome opens the scenario up to innovative measurement systems, based on wearable EEG devices, for the application of personal comfort models to indoor environmental monitoring and control.