Combined effects of thermal-acoustic-luminous environments on environmental and emotional perceptions in learning...

Learning spaces are the primary activity spaces for students' daily lives on campuses, and their thermal, luminous, and acoustic environments significantly affect users' comfort and emotional perception. To investigate the combined effects of thermal-luminous-acoustic environments on environmental and emotional perceptions in learning spaces and the relationship between environmental comfort and emotional perception, this study investigated the temperature, illumination, and sound pressure levels in a learning space in a severe cold city, selecting 27 different environmental conditions for controlled experiments. Results indicate that temperature affected subjective loudness and acoustic comfort, rating poorly in hotter environment. Illumination affected acoustic acceptability and was lower in brighter luminous environment. Additionally, temperature affected luminous sensation and visual comfort, with significantly poorer results in hotter environment. The sound pressure level affected luminous sensation, visual comfort, and luminous acceptability, and it was rated better in a moderately quiet sound environment. Overall comfort was affected by thermal, acoustic, and luminous environments, while the acoustic environment having the greatest effect. The overall comfort level was the highest at 22 °C, 35 dB, and 100 lx. Environmental factors also affected emotional perception, mainly affecting emotional valence. A significant correlation was noted between environmental and emotional perception, while acoustic comfort and overall comfort had the strongest correlation with emotional perception.