An evaluation of infra-red tympanic thermometry for thermal physiology research

This study forms part of a research programme to investigate the relationships between the rise in core temperature and the environmental temperature in soldiers exercising at a constant rate. The measurement of core temperature is a fundamental requirement for this research. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of an infra-red tympanic thermometer (IVAC Corecheck) for use in thermal physiological studies conducted outside the laboratory environment by comparing the right ear temperature by TM thermometer and the left ear external auditory meatus by thermistor. The slope of the regression line between the two measurements was 0.9967 with a correlation coefficient of 0.706 which is reasonable. The TM thermometer in general reads higher than the aural thermometer with a 95% confidence limit for agreement from +0.78 to -0.53 degrees C of the aural temperature. Thus this study demonstrated that the tympanic thermometer (IVAC Corecheck) is sufficiently reliable compared to the aural thermistor to justify field trials.