Environment temperature and music preference interact with human thermal demand

The influence of acoustic preferences on human comfort is hardly reported in the literature. We recruited 20 healthy individuals and designed three temperature conditions (18, 24, and 30°C) as well as three sound kinds (silent, liked, and hated). We obtain subjective assessments and physiological parameters from the individuals. Our research results indicated that liked music improved subjective thermal demand and raised thermal neutral temperature (0.4°C) compared to a silent thermal environment, particularly in cold conditions. Furthermore, in the same cold, neutral, and hot situations, playing favored sounds lowered alpha band power by 0.5%, 1.8%, and 0.5%, respectively, when compared to silent surroundings; on the other hand, disliked sounds raised beta band intensity by 1.0%, 2.6%, and 1.0%, respectively. Furthermore, the interplay of temperature and sound preference impacts human comfort, pleasure, and electroencephalogram (EEG) power in various frequency bands, whereas sound preference influences the link between thermal comfort vote (TCV) and EEG power. Our findings suggest that by generating a pleasant and comfortable auditory environment, the indoor set temperature in winter may be reduced. The findings can offer theoretical guidelines for developing a holistic thermal environment that integrates thermal and acoustic environments. Variation of thermal acceptance rate with temperature and music preference