THE EFFECTS OF AIR TEMPERATURE ON THE PERCEPTIONS AND SICK BUILDING SYNDROME (SBS) SYMPTOMS OF ASTHMATICS AND NONASTHMATICS

Abstract

This study presents findings from a simulated office study conducted in a field experimental chamber in the Tropics on asthmatics and non-asthmatics subjects. The experiment was conducted to test the effects of air temperature on the perceptual responses of asthmatics and non-asthmatics tropical office workers over a period of 8 hours. 32 healthy subjects and 32 asthmatic subjects were exposed to air temperatures at 20°C and 26°C. The subjects were required to relate their perceptual responses in 8 sets of surveys, however only three sets of survey at 0-hours, 4-hours and 8-hours were considered in this paper. The results showed that the asthmatic subjects perceived indoor environment to be less acceptable than the healthy subjects and some effects of temperature were more pronounced for the asthmatic subjects than the healthy subjects. Asthmatics perceived the air to be stuffier, more stagnant and dustier than the healthy subjects. Asthmatic subjects were also found to perceive odour intensity to be significantly stronger than healthy subjects at both 20°C and 26°C. The asthmatic group also perceived the environment to be thermally more uncomfortable than the healthy group at both temperatures. Furthermore, the asthmatic group found the temperature of 20°C to be too cold and uncomfortable while the healthy group found it still acceptable. Even though the asthmatic subjects perceived the environment to be more uncomfortable than the healthy subjects, no significant difference was observed between the healthy and asthmatic subjects’ body thermal sensation and local thermal sensation at different body parts. Generally, the asthmatic subjects were observed to experience greater intensity of SBS symptoms than the healthy subjects. Asthmatic subjects were observed to experience more eyes, nose and throat irritations than the healthy subjects, especially the nose and eyes irritations. Asthmatic subjects also experienced significantly stronger intensity of neurobehavioural related symptoms than healthy subjects at both temperatures. However, it was observed that the healthy subjects’ sensation of dryness is greater than the asthmatic subjects’.