Assessment of overall body thermal sensation based on the thermal response of local cutaneous thermoreceptors

Abstract

In non-uniform environments, different body parts may experience different ranges of physical/environmental parameters. Therefore, to assess the overall thermal sensation in non-uniform environments, the local temperature/thermal sensation of various body parts should be calculated. The local temperature/thermal sensation based on cutaneous thermoreceptor (TRs) responses has been evaluated using MSTB (Multi-Segmental Thermoregulatory Bioheat) model and LTRESP (Local Thermal Response) index in our recent studies. In the present study, a new combined method was proposed to evaluate the overall thermal sensation considering the effects of local sensations of various body segments. In this new method, the local sensations predicted by LTRESP index were defined as the input data for UCB model to predict the overall thermal sensation. So, there was no need to feed it with experimental data to assess the whole-body thermal sensation. Meanwhile, in this method, the overall thermal sensation was predicted taking into account the cutaneous TRs thermal responses. The results indicated that the new combined method could evaluate the overall thermal sensation with a reasonable accuracy under different environmental conditions. Thus, the new method could be practical for predicting the overall thermal sensation in both uniform and non-uniform thermal environments.