HRV and DBP in Monitoring the Short-Term Effect of Wood-Based Materials on Human Physiologic System

Abstract

This study examined the effects of contact with wood- based materials and other reference materials on the living human body using the physiological indexes from heart rate variability (HRV) and non-invasive dynamic blood pressure (DBP) measurements. The changes of sympathetic and parasympathetic in autonomous nervous system were separately analyzed at time domain and frequency domain. The results showed that the activity of the sympathetic nervous system evidently changed with the thermal conduction of materials. It can be concluded that contacting with wood-based materials has little influence on the balance of the autonomous nervous system, and the parasympathetic could be quickly recovered. Subjective survey by SD method showed that the tactility of wood-based materials with smaller thermal conductivity was moderate and people preferred this kind of materials to others.