The effects of personal control of light color on thermal perceptions

Thermal comfort has been suggested to be associated with visual comfort, although the causality underlying such an association is unclear. To investigate whether enhanced visual comfort causally improves thermal comfort, a 2x2 within-subject experiment with four conditions (CCT of initial light setting: 2700K vs 5700K and Personal control: yes vs no) was conducted at a constant ambient temperature of 17℃. The conditions were tested on four separate days using a 4×4 Latin square design. Thermal as well as visual sensation and comfort were measured. Sixteen participants were enrolled. Initial results suggest that the personal control of the CCT of the light significantly altered lighting color sensation and improved visual comfort. So far, personal control of the CCT did not significantly affect participants' thermal sensation and thermal comfort. We will report more findings and their implications at the conference.