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Concept
Room temperature
Summary
Colloquially, room temperature is a range of air temperatures that most people prefer for indoor settings. These temperatures feel comfortable to people wearing typical indoor clothing. Human comfort can extend beyond this range depending on humidity, air circulation and other factors.
In certain fields, like science and engineering, and within a particular context, room temperature can mean different agreed-upon ranges. In contrast, ambient temperature is the actual temperature, as measured by a thermometer, of the air (or other medium and surroundings) in any particular place. The ambient temperature (e.g. an unheated room in winter) may be very different from an ideal room temperature.
Food or beverages may be served at "room temperature", meaning neither heated nor cooled.
Thermal comfort
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language identifies room temperature as around , while the Oxford English Dictionary states that it is "conventionally taken as about ".
Ideal room temperature varies vastly depending on the surrounding climate. Studies from Indonesia have shown that the range of comfortable temperature falls between for local residents. Studies from Nigeria show a comfortable temperature range of , comfortably cool and comfortably warm . A field study conducted in Hyderabad, India returned a comfort band of with a mean of . A study conducted in Jaipur, India among healthy young men showed that the neutral thermal comfort temperature was analyzed to be , although a range of was found.
Owing to variations in humidity and (likely) clothing, recommendations for summer and winter may vary; a suggested typical range for summer is , with that for winter being . Some studies have suggested that thermal comfort preferences of men and women may differ significantly, with women on average preferring higher ambient temperatures.
In the recent past it was common for house temperatures to be kept below the comfort level; a 1978 UK study found average indoor home temperatures to be while Japan in 1980 had median home temperatures of to .
Official source
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