Development of Korean Representative Headforms for the Total Inward Leakage Testing on Filtering Facepiece...

Area of Science:

• Anthropometry
• Biomedical Engineering
• Occupational Safety

Background:

• Existing headforms do not accurately represent Korean head characteristics or demographics.
• This deficiency leads to inadequate testing of filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) and reduced their effectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop representative 3D headforms that accurately reflect the anthropometric characteristics of the Korean population.
• To improve the accuracy and effectiveness of filtering facepiece respirator (FFR) testing for Koreans.

Main Methods:

• Utilized direct and 3D measurements from 5,110 and 2,044 individuals, respectively, from Size Korea surveys.
• Applied Principal Component Analysis (PCA) based on ISO 16976-2 to identify key Korean head characteristics.
• Developed five distinct size categories representing Korean head shapes and constructed average 3D headforms for each category.

Main Results:

• Identified two primary factors explaining Korean head characteristics using PCA.
• Developed five representative headforms categorized as medium, small, large, short & wide, and long & narrow.
• These headforms accurately reflect the anthropometric features of Korean heads.

Conclusions:

• Representative headforms tailored to the Korean population have been successfully developed.
• These headforms are suitable for conducting total inward leakage (TIL) tests on filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs).
• Utilizing these robotic headforms can enhance FFR performance for the Korean target population.