Abstract
A survey was conducted on four residences (two single-family wooden houses and two housing complexes) in Tokyo and Saitama, in order to understand the actual condition of the thermal environment in the residences of people with cervical spinal cord injuries who have severe disability of thermoregulation including defective sweating over most of the body. As a result, the summer survey revealed that the temperature in bedrooms and living rooms where time was spent for long hours tended to hover at a higher level in comparison with the temperature setting of the air conditioners. The causes were assumed to include insufficient capacity of air conditioners and no insulating materials installed within exterior walls and roofs. Also, toilet rooms which had high air temperatures were used for long hours. In the winter survey, the vertical temperature distribution in bedrooms and living rooms tended to be large and the temperature around the feet tended to be low. It was clarified as a result of this survey that people with cervical spinal cord injuries are not always living in a favorable thermal environment within their residences while they have severe disability of thermoregulation. It is an urgent need to establish a method to maintain the thermal environment in residences for the future.
