Effect of Neck Refrigeration by the Neck Cooler on Worker’s Physiological and Psychological Performance

Yasuhiro Kawahara; Mikio Takahashi; Hiroki Takahashi; Guillaume Lopez

Pervasive Computing Paradigms for Mental Health. 4th International Symposium, MindCare 2014, Tokyo, Japan, May 8-9, 2014, Revised Selected Papers

Research Article

Effect of Neck Refrigeration by the Neck Cooler on Worker’s Physiological and Psychological Performance

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@INPROCEEDINGS{10.1007/978-3-319-11564-1_6,
    author={Yasuhiro Kawahara and Mikio Takahashi and Hiroki Takahashi and Guillaume Lopez},
    title={Effect of Neck Refrigeration by the Neck Cooler on Worker’s Physiological and Psychological Performance},
    proceedings={Pervasive Computing Paradigms for Mental Health. 4th International Symposium, MindCare 2014, Tokyo, Japan, May 8-9, 2014, Revised Selected Papers},
    proceedings_a={MINDCARE},
    year={2014},
    month={12},
    keywords={Neck cooling Mental performance Comfort technology Energy-saving technology Wearable environment},
    doi={10.1007/978-3-319-11564-1_6}
}

Yasuhiro Kawahara
Mikio Takahashi
Hiroki Takahashi
Guillaume Lopez
Year: 2014
Effect of Neck Refrigeration by the Neck Cooler on Worker’s Physiological and Psychological Performance
MINDCARE
Springer
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-11564-1_6

Yasuhiro Kawahara¹^,*, Mikio Takahashi², Hiroki Takahashi², Guillaume Lopez³^,*

1: Faculty of Liberal Arts, The Open University of Japan
2: Takenaka Corporation, R&D Institute
3: College of Science and Technology, Aoyamagakuin University

*Contact email: kawahara2@ouj.ac.jp, guillaume@it.aoyama.ac.jp

Abstract

Intelligent neck cooler has been proposed as an energy-saving indoor air-conditioning method by direct cooling of human body. This paper reports evaluation results of intelligent neck cooler’s effectiveness regarding labor productivity and comfort in hot summer office environment. We studied through trial subjects how neck cooling affects physiology, psychology, and task productivity in summer heat environment. Higher comfort level were reported (0.05 statistical significance), and better maintenance of attention (0.01 statistical significance) in long lasting tasks in neck cooling condition were demonstrated.

Keywords: Neck cooling Mental performance Comfort technology Energy-saving technology Wearable environment

Published: 2014-12-10

: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11564-1_6