Evaluating thermophysiological comfort using the principles of sensory analysis.

Thermophysiological comfort applies to the way in which clothing lets through or retains heat and moisture and helps the body retain heat balance in rest position or at various levels of activities. In this paper, the principles of sensory analysis are used to define the protocol of new method for the evaluation of thermophysiological comfort wearing different garments. Sensory analysis was chosen because as a scientific discipline that applies experiment principles using human senses is used for the evaluation of consumer goods. Test protocol using assessors described in this paper consists of the following steps: defining the interview content, finding potential assessors and making an interview, creating a survey, conducting a survey, group discussion, test and group discussion scoring, selection of assessors, assessment preparation and subjective assessment. On average the most distinctive increase in the sensation of warmth was recorded for the polyester clothing ensemble, and the lowest one for the cotton clothing ensemble. Concerning the average grades of comfort given by assesors, the most comfortable clothing ensemble is the one made of viscose. It was also found out that the method is especially suitable if a representative group of assessors is formed.