Should we differentiate ventilation requirements for different user groups?

Abstract

The aim of our study is to investigate whether it is necessary to adjust the venti-lation requirements according to different user groups. This study is focusing es-pecially on teenagers, who might have a higher odour load than children due to increased hormone and sweat production during puberty. The odour intensity (OI) and the perceived air quality (PAQ) were evaluated in four classrooms in Oslo, Norway. Two control classrooms of 9-11 years olds (children) were com-pared with two case classrooms of 12-15 years olds (teenagers). A sensory panel of 18 untrained people visited the four classrooms three times during a three-hour period and were asked to evaluate PAQ and OI upon entering the classrooms. The classrooms were supplied with a constant ventilation rate of 7 l/s per person, with no additional ventilation for building materials.We found that the classroom with children had a significant better PAQ-score than both classrooms with teen-agers. Furthermore, although the ventilation rate per person was reduced, the per-centage of panellists dissatisfied with OI and PAQ was lower (<20%) than ex-pected. Our results indicate that children and teenagers have different sensory pollution loads, and therefore might need differentiated ventilation rates if the ventilation rates were to be optimised. However, more research is needed.