Finger temperature as a predictor of thermal comfort for sedentary passengers in a simulated aircraft cabin

Experiments were carried out in a simulated aircraft cabin with 21 seats installed in a climate chamber, to determine the extent to which passengers’ perception of cabin air quality is affected by air temperature. The temperature inside the cabin was set at three different levels, 20.6, 23.3 and 26.1°C.

A total of 68 subjects were exposed to each of the three conditions. The subjects completed questionnaires to provide subjective assessments of air quality, cabin environment, intensity of symptoms commonly experienced during flight, and thermal comfort. Objective physiological measurements that were made included finger temperature.

The purpose of the present paper is to show that mean finger temperature is a good predictor of mean thermal vote (MTV) on the seven-point scale of thermal sensation. The results indicate that women and younger subjects have slightly colder fingers.