Abstract
The pattern of nasal skin temperature change under a white noise exposure and its correlation to subjective state were examined. Eight subjects were exposed to four trials, each consisting of two, 2 min resting periods and a 2 min of white noise period, and their nasal skin temperature was measured during these periods. The white noise period consisted of different sound pressure levels (40, 50, 60, and 90 dB), which were all presented to the subject through headphones by a random sequence. Subjects also evaluated their own subjective states (subjective arousal, irritation, and mood) for the resting and the stimulus conditions. The results showed that the nasal skin temperature increased gradually in the resting condition and decreased transiently at the onset of the white noise period. This decrease of temperature lasted for 30 s to 1 min after the termination of sound exposure. The amount of temperature decrease correlated with the intensity of noise, and the temperature decrease was the largest at the 90 dB condition. The amount of temperature decrease also correlated significantly with the increase of subjective arousal and irritation. These results suggest that the nasal skin temperature is a good marker to estimate subjective state.
