Abstract
The sensory tests by an elderly person and a young person were carried out by method of paired comparisons using coated kiri and teak wood (flat-sawn grain) without seeing the specimens. The properties of the palm of the hand and the heat flow from a metal disk heated at temperature of the palm to the specimen were measured. The density of wood influenced the sensory warmth and hardness of coated wood. The coating changed the tactile sensation of wood. The elderly person made more definite judgment regarding the sensory sliding than the young person, but the definition of judgment is the contrary in the sensory hardness. The comparison of the tactile sensation between elderly person and young person having the similar properties of palm showed that in the elderly person the decline of perceptivity on the sensory hardness was recognized, but wasn't on the sensory sliding. The heat flow from the heated metal disk to the specimen had a very close relation to the sensory warmth. The comfortable surface was different between the elderly and young person. The elderly person made more definite judgments regarding comfortability. The multiple linear regression analysis showed that the comfortability in the elderly person could be predicted by the sensory warmth.
