The effects of moderate heat stress and open-plan office noise distraction on SBS symptoms and on the performance of office work. Indoor Air 2004;14(Suppl

ABSTRACT Thirty subjects clothed for comfort at 22°C performed simulated office work for 3 hours at 22/26/30°C (7.4 g/kg dry air, i.e. 45/35/28 %RH) in quiet and recorded open-plan office noise (55 dBA) conditions. Warmth decreased perceived air quality (P<0.01) and increased odour intensity (P<0.05) and stuffiness (P<0.01). After 2 hours, forehead sweating was observed on 4/36/76% of subjects (P<0.001), while 0/21/65% felt "warm" or "hot" (P<0.001). Raised temperature increased eye, nose and throat irritation and headache intensity (P<0.05) and decreased concentration (P<0.05) and self-estimated performance (P<0.001). Noise increased fatigue (P<0.05) and decreased concentration (P<0.05) but did not interact with any thermal effects on subjective perception. In an Addition task, noise decreased the workrate by 3% (P<0.05), subjects who felt warm made 56% more errors (P<0.05) and there was a noisetemperature interaction (P<0.01): noise removed the effect of warmth on errors. Noise increased typing speed (P<0.05) and reading speed (P<0.05)