Effect of air conditioning and chair cushion on scrotal temperature

Abstract

The hypothesis of this study is that the air conditioning temperature and thickness of the chair cushion affect a man's scrotal, and consequently testicular temperature. Ten healthy male subjects volunteered for the study (age: 23.4 ± 2.4 years; height: 173.8 ± 5.09 cm; weight: 71.6 ± 9.7 kg; body fat ratio: 18.6 ± 4.1%). The air conditioning temperature was controlled at 18°C to represent the heating season, and at 26°C to represent the cooling season. The thickness of the chair cushions was varied from 0 to 8 cm at 2 cm intervals. The changes in the scrotal surface temperature (SST) and buttock skin temperature were measured for 120 min. At the ambient temperatures (ta) of 18 and 26°C, the average SST were 33.76 ± 1.28 and 35.02 ± 0.54°C for the chair cushion thickness (Cthk) of 0 cm, 33.87 ± 1.07 and 34.96 ± 0.75°C for Cthk 2 cm, 33.91 ± 0.84 and 35.03 ± 0.85°C for Cthk 4 cm, 34.42 ± 0.89 and 35.02 ± 0.63°C for Cthk 6 cm, and 34.65 ± 1.21 and 34.99 ± 0.62°C for Cthk 8 cm respectively. SST was significantly affected by the air conditioning temperature (p < 0.001 but was not statistically correlated with the chair cushion thickness. Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.