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Using EEG to characterise drowsiness during short duration exposure to elevated indoor carbon dioxide concentrations

Using EEG to characterise drowsiness during short duration exposure to elevated indoor carbon dioxide concentrations
Using EEG to characterise drowsiness during short duration exposure to elevated indoor carbon dioxide concentrations
Drowsiness which can affect work performance, is often elicited through self- reporting. This paper demonstrates the potential to use EEG to objectively quantify changes to drowsiness due to poor indoor air quality. Continuous EEG data was recorded from 23 treatment group participants subject to artificially raised indoor CO2 concentrations (average 2,700 textpm 300 ppm) for approximately 10 minutes and 13 control group participants subject to the same protocol without additional CO2 (average 830 textpm 70 ppm). EEG data were analysed for markers of drowsiness according neurophysiological methods at three stages of the experiment, Baseline, High CO2 and Post-Ventilation. Treatment group participants' EEG data yielded a closer approximation to drowsiness than that of control group participants during the High CO2 condition, despite no significant group differences in self-reported sleepiness. Future work is required to determine the persistence of these changes to EEG over longer exposures and to better isolate the specific effect of CO2 on drowsiness compared to other environmental or physiological factors.Practical implicationsThis study introduces EEG as a potential objective indicator of the effect of indoor environmental conditions upon drowsinessParticipants exposed to 2,700 ppm for 10 minutes showed greater evidence of a progression towards drowsiness (as measured by EEG) than that of participants who received the same protocol without additional CO2 (mean 830 textpm 70 ppm), despite similar ratings of subjective sleepiness.Subjective and objectively measured indications of drowsiness were reduced following ventilation of the room. Future work could explore the potential of regular ventilation episodes in knowledge work spaces to retain alertness.
Snow, Stephen
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Boyson, Amy
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Felipe-King, Marco
acd95126-68d6-42f9-9ca2-c9ca49d7fdd4
Malik, Obaid
aab431ed-5258-4238-8b74-5b4ae29f2cc8
Coutts, Louise
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Noakes, Catherine J.
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Gough, Hannah
a3023a73-5d87-4bda-aba4-4e9a07a5b7db
Barlow, Janet
67e37dc0-37ca-4aee-b8ac-f0398ec745fe
schraefel, m.c.
ac304659-1692-47f6-b892-15113b8c929f
Snow, Stephen
1ba928e0-a4d7-4392-ae59-31ac8467eb94
Boyson, Amy
8c54a4bc-0e51-4905-abce-e89b75ea3ffe
Felipe-King, Marco
acd95126-68d6-42f9-9ca2-c9ca49d7fdd4
Malik, Obaid
aab431ed-5258-4238-8b74-5b4ae29f2cc8
Coutts, Louise
90c9e532-5400-4ef8-853f-0e3c311b4f27
Noakes, Catherine J.
c7883be6-d4d9-4aa7-98b5-40dba5fa71be
Gough, Hannah
a3023a73-5d87-4bda-aba4-4e9a07a5b7db
Barlow, Janet
67e37dc0-37ca-4aee-b8ac-f0398ec745fe
schraefel, m.c.
ac304659-1692-47f6-b892-15113b8c929f

Snow, Stephen, Boyson, Amy, Felipe-King, Marco, Malik, Obaid, Coutts, Louise, Noakes, Catherine J., Gough, Hannah, Barlow, Janet and schraefel, m.c. (2018) Using EEG to characterise drowsiness during short duration exposure to elevated indoor carbon dioxide concentrations. bioRxiv. (doi:10.1101/483750).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Drowsiness which can affect work performance, is often elicited through self- reporting. This paper demonstrates the potential to use EEG to objectively quantify changes to drowsiness due to poor indoor air quality. Continuous EEG data was recorded from 23 treatment group participants subject to artificially raised indoor CO2 concentrations (average 2,700 textpm 300 ppm) for approximately 10 minutes and 13 control group participants subject to the same protocol without additional CO2 (average 830 textpm 70 ppm). EEG data were analysed for markers of drowsiness according neurophysiological methods at three stages of the experiment, Baseline, High CO2 and Post-Ventilation. Treatment group participants' EEG data yielded a closer approximation to drowsiness than that of control group participants during the High CO2 condition, despite no significant group differences in self-reported sleepiness. Future work is required to determine the persistence of these changes to EEG over longer exposures and to better isolate the specific effect of CO2 on drowsiness compared to other environmental or physiological factors.Practical implicationsThis study introduces EEG as a potential objective indicator of the effect of indoor environmental conditions upon drowsinessParticipants exposed to 2,700 ppm for 10 minutes showed greater evidence of a progression towards drowsiness (as measured by EEG) than that of participants who received the same protocol without additional CO2 (mean 830 textpm 70 ppm), despite similar ratings of subjective sleepiness.Subjective and objectively measured indications of drowsiness were reduced following ventilation of the room. Future work could explore the potential of regular ventilation episodes in knowledge work spaces to retain alertness.

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Published date: 30 November 2018

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 432512
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/432512
PURE UUID: 9c396e77-e869-4403-863b-797262444eb7
ORCID for m.c. schraefel: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9061-7957

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Date deposited: 17 Jul 2019 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:32

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Contributors

Author: Stephen Snow
Author: Amy Boyson
Author: Marco Felipe-King
Author: Obaid Malik
Author: Louise Coutts
Author: Catherine J. Noakes
Author: Hannah Gough
Author: Janet Barlow
Author: m.c. schraefel ORCID iD

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