Abstract
As a part of three years project, this study was the test of a research procedure that will be applied on older occupants in care homes in the future research. It aims to investigate the feasibility of using Transepidermal Water Loss (TEWL) to measure the effect of dry air on occupant's skin condition and hygrothermal comfort in a real living environment. 9 young adults participated in the 4-week study. Domestic humidifiers were used in each room to alter room humidity under a sequence of interventions. Data was collected under the circumstance of no interferences to occupants' daily life. The collected data includes room temperature, relative humidity (RH) and TEWL on front arm. Results show that the measured TEWL was not significantly correlated to room RH due to inappropriate research procedure. Room humidity was effectively altered to 40% RH through the domestic humidifier used.