Effects of Fragrance on Working Environment Characteristics in VDT Work

Abstract

The change from manual labor to man-machine dependent systems cannot be denied, as they contribute to an improvement in productivity. But, there is also the fact of an increased workload on the operator. In order to discover better working environment standards for man-machine systems, much research concerning VDT work is being done. But the use and consideration of a "fragrance" as a working environmental factor is rare. This paper describes design factors for a reasonable working environment which supports a man-machine combined system for VDT work. The method of research notes "fragrance" as one factor to be explored when designing a working environment. It also considers the influence which this factor has on productivity and workload from an experimental approach. The evaluation indexes in the experiment are obtained by measuring the working efficiency and quality in data input work, the mental changes (stability) measured by an EEG (electroencephalograph), and the workload degree determined by a survey on subjective symptoms. The results show the following : 1) When a fragrance stimulus is given to the subjects, it was shown to have effect on their concentration on work and to mentally stabilize them in comparison with their state under natural condition. 2) When an awakening fragrance with a 20% concentration was given to the subjects, the effect showed the optimal level of improvement in productivity and mitigation of the workload.