Human thermal perception in extremely cold environments: A study of overall and local responses

Abstract

Extreme weather has occurred frequently in recent years, which has a significant impact on the thermal perception of people who need to work outdoors and people living in cold regions. This study aimed to explore changes in overall and local thermal perception and the association of subjective and objective parameters. Including thermal sensation vote (TSV), thermal comfort vote (TCV), mean skin temperature, local skin temperature, and blood pressure in different cold exposure environments. Twelve subjects were exposed to cold environments of −5°C, −10 °C, and −15 °C, respectively, and reported thermal perception (TSV and TCV) during the experiment. The results show that when the ambient temperature is in the range of −5 °C–−15 °C, the decrease in temperature has no significant effect on the overall TSV. The overall TSV followed closely the coldest-feeling parts of the body during cold exposure, with a distinct “complaint” phenomenon. However, the “complaint” phenomenon of the overall TCV is not obvious, and the whole exposure process is close to the TCV of the face. Local skin temperature and blood pressure have good correlations with overall TSV. The results of this study help to explore the regulations of human thermal perception in extremely cold environments and are of great significance for further research on thermal comfort models in extremely cold environments.