title: Investigation of gender difference in thermal comfort for Chinese people.
abstract: Gender difference in thermal comfort for Chinese people was investigated through two laboratory experiments. Both subjective assessment and objective measurement were taken during the experiment. Skin temperature (17 points) and heart rate variability (HRV) were measured in one of the experiment. Our results show that there are gender differences in thermal comfort for Chinese people. Correlation of thermal sensation votes and air temperature and vapor pressure shows that females are more sensitive to temperature and less sensitive to humidity than males. Subjective assessment, skin temperature and HRV analysis suggest that females prefer neutral or slightly warmer condition, due to their constantly lower skin temperature and the fact that mean skin temperature is a good predictor of sensation and discomfort below neutrality. Female comfortable operative temperature (26.3 degrees C) is higher than male comfortable operative temperature (25.3 degrees C), although males and females have almost the same neutral temperature and that there is no gender difference in thermal sensation near neutral conditions.
authors.affiliation: Institution of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China. lanli_tty@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.forename: Zhiwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lian
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yuanmou
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012881:Skin Temperature / Q000502:physiology*