Investigation of Subjectively Assessed Health Symptoms and Human Thermal Perceptions in Transient Thermal Environments

Abstract

People are often likely to expose themselves to sudden temperature change in daily life and they may suffer from not only thermal discomfort but also even some health symptoms. In this study, the influence of different air temperature steps (S5:32°C-37°C-32°C, S11:26°C-37°C-26°C, and S15:22°C-37°C-22°C) on subjective health symptoms and thermal perceptions was studied with 24 volunteered participants in the laboratory experiment. Several subjective rating scales were used to assess participant's subjective feelings imposed by temperature steps. Our results show that perspiration, eyestrain, dizziness, accelerated respiration and heart rate are found to be sensitive self-reported symptoms in response to temperature step changes. Thermal sensation and comfort just before temperature step are significantly distinguished from that immediately after step change except for thermal comfort under up step situation of S15 (22oC-37oC). Moreover, temperature step amplitude and direction have significant impact on subjective perceptions.