Is the perception of indoor dryness health risk factors ?

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21H01493
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 23020:Architectural environment and building equipment-related
• Research Institution: Akita Prefectural University
• Principal Investigator: Hasegawa Kenichi 秋田県立大学, システム科学技術学部, 教授 (50293494)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 三田村 輝章 前橋工科大学, 工学部, 准教授 (10406027) ; 鍵 直樹 東京工業大学, 環境・社会理工学院, 教授 (20345383)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 乾燥感 / 室内環境 / シックハウス症状 / 暴露環境の評価 / ドライネスとダンプネス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study is to construct a causal structure model that leads to health effects of sick house syndrome via the psychological response of dryness perception, using an epidemiological approach, and to finally propose indoor environment improvement method that contributes to health risk reduction.
The following findings were obtained from this study. (1) From the questionnaire survey and subject experiment, it is possible that indoor air quality has a greater effect on dryness perception in a thermally neutral environment, and low humidity has a greater effect on dryness perception in a thermally non-neutral environment. (2) From the analysis of covariance structure, sick house symptom associated with dryness perception can be appropriately evaluated by using the index to evaluate the degree of dryness perception proposed in this study, and sick house symptom can be reduced by taking countermeasures corresponding to the evaluation items in this analyzed model.

Free Research Field

建築環境学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

住宅の室内環境上の問題点とされている乾燥感には，複合的な居住環境要因が関与しているとすれば，単に加湿するのみでは十分な対策にはならない。むしろ，加湿をすることにより結露やカビの発生が懸念される。
本研究を通じて，例えば，加湿器・空気清浄機の導入，室内の掃除，換気設備を整える等を講じることにより，シックハウス症状を低減できる可能性があることが示された。本研究で構築した因果構造モデルは，居住環境全体を見据えた有効な対応策が提示することができ，たいへん意義深い。