Gender differences in physiological and psychological responses to the thermal environment with varying clothing ensembles

Abstract

Although clothing is a critical factor in assessing human thermal comfort, gender differences exist in thermal responses. This paper presents research on gender differences in adult physiological and psychological responses to the thermal environment, using 12 different clothing ensembles. The experiment was conducted at four air temperatures: 10, 16, 22, and 28 °C, with three different series of clothing ensembles in each air temperature.The main conclusions are as follows: women are more sensitive to a colder thermal environment. Their measured overall skin temperatures were lower than those of their male counterparts and the predicted values for cold environments. This was particularly true in the case of hands, feet, and lower body parts, resulting in women feeling colder than men in the same cold environment. However, there were no significant differences in thermal sensations between the genders when their measured skin temperatures were the same. Different body parts showed different levels of thermal adaption to cold environments: the head, hands, and lower body had lower neutral skin temperatures in cold environments than those recorded in a previous study of a neutral environment, especially in the case of women. Due to these physiological and psychological differences of local body, more men than women preferred to add warmer or additional pants in cold environments. This article provides information to help researchers and designers take gender differences into consideration when designing indoor thermal environments, helping to improve both thermal comfort and system efficiency.