Dry indoor air has been identified as the main cause of dry skin in winter which greatly affects older occupants' wellbeing, but HVAC design standards are based on average adults and do not specify a humidity level that can prevent dry skin. A field study was carried out to understand the difference between the younger and older people with regards to thermal and humidity comfort and skin condition in winter. The study proves a research procedure that is friendly to and preferred by the participants to measure the effect of the indoor environment on their comfort and skin condition in a real living environment setting. The results suggest that younger and older occupants are different in thermal comfort, specifically older occupants prefer a warmer environment than younger occupants, and the neutral temperature produced by the predicted mean vote method is not warm enough for older occupants. The study also suggests stratum corneum hydration appears to be a good indicator to present the effect of indoor humidity on the occupants' skin condition, which can be used to determine the minimum humidity level to reduce the risk of suffering dry skin in winter.

干燥的室内空气已被确定为冬季皮肤干燥的主要原因，这极大地影响了老年人的健康，但暖通空调设计标准基于普通成年人，并没有指定可以防止皮肤干燥的湿度水平。进行了一项实地研究，以了解年轻人和老年人在冬季温度和湿度舒适度以及皮肤状况方面的差异。该研究证明了一种对参与者友好并受其青睐的研究程序，以测量室内环境对其在真实生活环境中的舒适度和皮肤状况的影响。结果表明，年轻和年长的居住者在热舒适性方面存在差异，特别是年长的居住者比年轻的居住者更喜欢温暖的环境，预测平均投票方法产生的中性温度对于年长的居住者来说不够温暖。该研究还表明，角质层的水合作用似乎是呈现室内湿度对居住者皮肤状况影响的良好指标，可用于确定最低湿度水平，以降低冬季皮肤干燥的风险。