Study on the effects of indoor air quality on the cognitive abilities of youths in Singapore

• Main Author: Chua, Elena Mei Yan
• Other Authors: Wan Man Pun
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/78421
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

According to studies done by the National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS) in the United States, an average modern human being spends at least 90% of their day in an enclosed environment [1]. This highlights the importance of ensuring that indoor air quality is controlled to maintain a conducive work environment. Although there have been several studies on Indoor Air Quality, not much has been done on how other types of pollutants like Formaldehyde, VOC, Ground Level Ozone and PM affect cognitive abilities of youths in a tropical climate like Singapore. The report will discuss attempts to establish a link between cognitive abilities to the indoor air quality through using activities in experiments. The type of equipment used to sample the air quality will also be discussed. Furthermore, the report also demonstrates the effects of filters on the indoor air quality and concludes on the feasibility of the activities used in the research as well as an overview of how indoor air quality and cognitive abilities can be affected by using filters. Thus, in my research, with 4 participants, it is shown that without the use of filters, participants showed a 41% decline in motor skills and 30.4% decline in typing speeds while the other activities do not show any statistical variations. As such, further investigation is required with a bigger sample size.