Effects of indoor temperature on office workers’ performance: an experimental study based on subjective assessments, neurobehavioral tests, and physiological measurements

AbstractAbstractIndoor temperature has a critical impact on the performance of office workers. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of indoor temperature on work performance through subjective assessments, neurobehavioral tests, and physiological measurements. The experiment was conducted in a controlled office environment. Under each temperature condition, participants voted on their perception of thermal sensation, thermal satisfaction, and sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms. Participants were given neurobehavioral tests based on a ten-item task, and their body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and blood oxygen saturation were measured before and after the tests. The study showed that the effect of indoor temperature on the test tasks varied greatly and depended on the task type. The indoor temperature, thermal sensation votes, and body temperature for optimum work performance were 17 °C, −0.57, and 36.4 °C, respectively. Work performance was positively correlated with thermal satisfaction votes and negatively correlated with sleepiness intensity.Practitioner summary: Work performance is closely related to indoor temperature. This study evaluated the effect of indoor temperature on work performance through subjective assessments, neurobehavioral tests, and physiological measurements. The relationships between work performance and indoor temperature, perceived votes, and physiological parameters were established, respectively.Keywords: Indoor temperaturework performancesubjective assessmentsneurobehavioral testsphysiological measurements Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availability statementThe data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.Additional informationFundingThis research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [No. 52078419 and 51678483]. This research was supported by the Doctoral Dissertation Innovation Fund of Xi'an University of Technology [No. 310–252072116]. The authors would like to thank the participants who volunteered in this study.