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International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 38 (2008) 921–926

www.elsevier.com/locate/ergon

A pilot study on facial anthropometric dimensions of the Chinesepopulation for half-mask respirator design and sizing

Lei Yanga,b,�, Henggen Shenb

aZhongyuang University of Technology, No. 41 Middle Zhongyuan Road, Zhengzhou 450007, ChinabDonghua University, No. 1882 West Yan’an Road, Shanghai 200051, China

Received 20 September 2006; received in revised form 26 January 2008; accepted 12 February 2008

Available online 20 March 2008 D

Abstract

A facial anthropometric survey was conducted for the Chinese subjects in 2006 and the collected data were compared with those of

American, Korean and Australian populations presented in literatures. Key facial anthropometric dimensions for half-mask design and

sizing, face width and face length of the Chinese, were also compared against NIOSH respirator fit test panels. Comparative results for

the four target ethnic groups showed that two key facial anthropometric dimensions of the Chinese subjects were significantly different

from those of other ethnic groups except for the Korean population. Mean values of facial width for both Chinese genders were

significantly larger than those of the American and the Australian. Anthropometric values of facial length of the Chinese in the survey

were significantly lower than those of the American and the Koreans. It was concluded that NIOSH panels for half-mask respirator

design and sizing in the US should be reconstructed for application to the Chinese groups.

Relevance to industry

The production of half-mask respirator is aimed at industrial respiratory protection. Anthropometric dimensions of respirator users

partially decide whether the successful fit of face and respirator is achieved. So the respirator fit test panels in the use of several facial

anthropometric values are important for the respirator design and sizing.

r 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Ergonomics; Half-mask respirator; Fit test panels; ChineseRACTE

1. Introduction

Many researchers (Hyatt et al., 1972; Oestenstad et al.,1990) have recognized that leakages of the respirator haveclose association with sizing design of the respirator andfacial dimensions in the fit test panel. The proper facialdimensions will make respirator design and sizing suitablefor tight-fitting with the wearer’s face (Hack and McCon-ville, 1978). Hence, facial anthropometric dimensions mustbe considered for defining respirator test panels in order to

RET

e front matter r 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

gon.2008.02.002

ing author at: Zhongyuang University of Technology,

hongyuan Road, Zhengzhou 450007, China.

71 6899 7301.

ess: lyang.pa@gmail.com (L. Yang).

design respirators successfully (NIOSH, 1972; Zhuang,2004; Zhuang, 2007), especially for diverse ethnic groups(Han and Choi, 2003; Kim et al., 2003; Yokota, 2005).Until now, the total population in China cover aboutone-fourth of the global population. Although somerelational facial ergonomic studies for designing andsizing respirator have been conducted for the Chinesepopulation in the past, the data are either out of date or notenough for civilian population. This study provided thedifferences in facial anthropometric dimensions betweenthe Chinese groups and some other racial groups.Furthermore, this study was to suggest proper facialdimensions and respirator fit test panels for half-maskrespirators design and sizing with optimal fit for Chineseindividuals.

ARTICLE IN PRESSL. Yang, H. Shen / International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 38 (2008) 921–926922

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Subjects

Four hundred and sixty-one university students andteachers from Zhongyuan University of Technology andDonghua University volunteered for facial anthropometricdimensions survey. The consent form had been signed byeach subject before the investigation. The subjects con-sisted of 270 male and 191 female. The range of ages of thesubjects was 23–43 years.

2.2. Measurement of facial dimensions

Ten facial dimensions as illustrated in Fig. 1 werebelieved to present very close relationship to the perfor-mance of half-mask respirators so that those dimensionswere generally measured in the most recent researches(Oestenstad et al., 1990; Han and Choi, 2003). Thesedimensions were defined in terms of body landmarksaccording to 1988 Anthropometric Survey of U.S. ArmyPersonnel Project (Cherverud, 1990) and Anthrotech(Anthropology Research Project, Inc., Yellow Springs,OH). This can ensure that each dimension was measured

410

9

8 6

57

3 21

Fig. 1. Ten critical facial dimensions measured.

Table 1

Abbreviations and descriptions of facial anthropometric dimensions

Abbreviation Measurement Description

1. Bizbdth Bizygomatic breadth (face width) Maximum horizontal breadt

2. Bigbrh Bigonial breadth headboard Straight-line distance betwee

3. Nosebrth Nose breadth headroard Straight-line distance betwee

4. Liplgthh Lip length headboard Straight-line distance betwee

5. Mensellh Menton–sellion length

headboard (face length)

Straight-line distance betwee

the nasal root depression

6. Sbnsselh Subnasal–sellion headboard Straight-line distance betwee

deepest point of the nasal ro

7. Mensubnh Menton–subnasal length

headboard

Straight-line distance betwee

landmark under the nose

8. Noseprh Nose protrusion headboard Straight-line distance betwee

under the nose

9. Trgsubna Tragion–subnasal arc Arc between the right tragio

10. Trgmena Tragion–menton arc Arc between the right tragio

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accurately and consistently from one subject to the next.Table 1 lists the details of the abbreviations and thedescription of the tested dimensions. The measurements ofall facial anthropometric dimensions were made in milli-meters to one decimal point using sliding and spreadinganthropometric calipers and plastic tapes (SiberHegner &Co. Ltd., Zurich, Switzerland).

2.3. Respirator fit test panels

Anthropometric panels of facial dimensions are criticalto provide the size reference for respirators in manyapplications, such as half-mask respirator fit test andrespirator design or development. Los Alamos NationalLaboratory (LANL) in USA developed a set of respiratorfit test panels based on 1967–1968 U.S. Air Forcesurveys. The facial anthropometry of LANL 25-memberpanels for half-mask respirators was assumed to berepresentative of U.S. adults with the expectation toaccommodate 90–95% of the U.S. population (McConvilleet al., 1972). However, the demography of the U.S.population has changed in many ways over thelast 30 years. The old respirator fit test panels maynot fairly represent the diversity of face sizes inUSA. A new half-mask respirator fit test panel with25-member was suggested by NIOSH researchers(Zhuang, 2004, 2007). NIOSH panel was definedby the abscissa of face width (BIZBDTH) and the ordinateof face length (MENSELLH). The total NIOSH panelwas divided into ten cells as illustrated in Fig. 2. Inaddition, 10 cells were defined by ten size categories,which were recommended for selecting test subjects forthe NIOSH total inward leakage testing of half-maskrespirator.Head-face dimensions except TRGSUBNA and

TRGMENA of the Chinese adults were collected in 1998(CNIS, 1998). No half-mask respirator fit test panel wasconstructed based on CNIS anthropometric survey of theChinese. In this study, facial anthropometric dimensions

CTED

h of the face between the zygomatic arches

n the right and left gonion landmarks at the corners of the jaw

n right and left alare landmarks on the sides of the nostrils

n the right and left cheilion landmarks at the corners of the mouth

n the menton landmark and the sellion landmark at the deepest point of

n the subnasal landmark under the nose and the sellion landmark at the

ot depression

n the menton landmark on the bottom of the chin and the suhnasal

n the pronasal landmark on the tip of the nose and the subnasal landmark

n and the subnasal depression

n and the menton

ARTICLE IN PRESSL. Yang, H. Shen / International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 38 (2008) 921–926 923

collected for the Chinese were compared to new NIOSHrespirator fit test panels. The difference between the facialanthropometric values of the Chinese and those of theAmerican help give constructing new half-mask respiratorfit test panels for Chinese individuals.

3. Results

The descriptive statistics of facial anthropometric datafor all 461 subjects are summarized by gender and listed inTable 2. Student’s t-test showed that on all dimensionsthere were significant differences between two genders(po0.001).

The results in many previous researches have demon-strated that face width and face length should beconsidered for defining half-mask respirator fit test panels(Liau et al., 1982; Gross and Horstman, 1990; Oestenstadand Perkins, 1992; Zhuang, 2004). Table 3 summarizesthe data of face width and face length of the Chinesepopulation and published results for the American, theKorean and the Australian. One-way ANOVA andDunnett multiple comparisons test showed that the meanvalues of facial width for the Chinese samples from thisstudy and from GB/T 2428 (CNIS, 1998) were significantlydifferent from the mean values of the American population

Fig. 2. NIOSH Respirator fit test panels (Zhuang, 2004).

Table 2

Summary statistics of facial anthropometric data for this study (mm, Mean7

Measurement Male (N ¼ 270) Fem

Bizbdth (face width) 146.279.5 137

Bigbrh 134.279.2 125

Nosebrth 39.772.9 35

Liplgthh 55.473.7 49

Mensellh (face length) 116.177.4 104

Sbnsselh 47.374.5 41

Mensubnh 70.574.5 64

Noseprh 23.172.7 21

Trgsubna 149.577.8 141

Trgmena 166.577.6 153

�All data were tested between male and female groups by student’s t-test u

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(p ¼ 0.042) except those of the Australian (p ¼ 0.175) andthe Korean (p ¼ 0.634) given in several literatures. How-ever, the mean values of the facial length for the Chinesesubjects did not follow the same pattern when facialdimensions were compared between Chinese and Koreans.The mean values of all Chinese data samples for faciallength were not significantly different from those of allother populations from literatures (p40.05). Actually,Table 3 shows that the mean values of facial length fromthis study and from GB/T 2428 (CNIS, 1998) were lowerthan those of the American and the Korean except theresults of Liau et al. (1982). The standard deviation (SD) offacial width from the Chinese males in this study washigher, while other SD from the Chinese samples was lowerthan those by other researches.Figs. 3 and 4 show bivariate distributions of face width

and face length for the Chinese subjects in this studyagainst the NIOSH panels and ellipses of the Chinese inGB/T 2428, in which Fig. 3 is the male and Fig. 4 is for thefemale, respectively. The inclined ellipses of the Chinesecan cover more than 95% of 1998 anthropometric data forthe Chinese (CNIS, 1998).Figs. 3 and 4 show that the distributions of facial

dimensions in this study are significantly different fromthose of the NIOSH panels. Most of the scatter plots inFig. 3 are distributed in the cells of the right part of theNIOSH panels, but a fraction of plots are outside panels.Fig. 4 illustrates that the results of the Chinese females arealmost located at the bottom of the NIOSH panels. Forfurther analysis, Table 4 gives the details of the distributionfor facial anthropometric values from this study against theNIOSH Panels. Totally 394 (85.5%) subjects are coveredby the NIOSH panels. Based on Figs. 3 and 4 and Table 4,nearly 72% of the plots are located in the bottom ofthe right part of NIOSH panels, which is composed ofcell 2, cell 4, cell 5, cell 7 and cell 8. Especially, cell 4 andcell 5 cover 39.9% of the total subjects for the Chinese inthis study.However, Figs. 3 and 4 show that more than 85% of the

plots are included in the ellipses of GB/T 2428. There are

CTED

SD)

ale (N ¼ 191) Total (N ¼ 461) p�

.376.9 144.578.9 0.0008

.179.1 130.4710.1 0.0008

.673.3 38.073.6 0.0001

.073.7 52.774.8 0.0002

.275.8 112.877.8 0.0008

.273.0 44.775.0 0.0006

.773.2 68.174.9 0.0006

.472.2 22.472.6 0.0001

.675.2 146.277.8 0.0008

.074.6 160.979.3 0.0008

sing SPSS (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL).

36malesubjects

and18fem

alesubjects

beyondthelim

itof

theellip

ses.

4.Discu

ssion

Facia

lanthropometric

dim

ensio

nsforresp

iratordesig

nhavebeen

surveyed

onAmerica

n,Austra

lianandKorea

ns.

There

are

recognized

differen

cesbetw

eenthefacia

lsizes

of

diverse

ethnic

groups.Twokey

facia

ldim

ensio

ns,i.e.

face

width

andface

length,havebeen

consid

eredforhalf-m

ask

respira

tordesig

nandsizin

g.Based

ontheresu

ltsin

this

study,theanthropometric

values

offace

width

forthe

Chinese

populatio

nare

higher

than

those

oftheother

racia

lgroupsexcep

tKorea

ns.Thesameconclu

sioncanbe

madefro

mtheresu

ltsoftheanthropometric

survey

by

CNIS

in1998.Additio

nally

,most

oftheanthropometric

values

oftheface

length

fortheChinese

populatio

nin

this

ARTIC

LEIN

PRES

S

130

130

150

150170

1601

140

140

120

120Face W

idth / mm

NIO

SH Panels

Male

GB

/T 2428

Face Length / mm

110

1009080

Male subjects

This study

Fig.3.Bivaria

tedistrib

utio

noffacia

ldim

ensio

ns

for

male

subje

against

theNIO

SH

panels.

Table 3

Comparison of the facial anthropometric dimensions among diverse race groups (mm, Mean7SD)

Chinese American Korean Australian

Male This study

2006

(N ¼ 270)

CNIS (1998)a Gordon et al.

(1989)b

(N ¼ 1774)

Zhuang and

Bradtmiller (2005)c

(N ¼ 2543)

Liau et al.

(1982)

(N ¼ 190)

Gross and

Horstman (1990)

(N ¼ 61)

Oestenstad and

Perkins (1992)

(N ¼ 38)

Han et al.

(1997)

(N ¼ 408)

KRISS

(1998)

(N ¼ 272)

Kim et al.

(2003)

(N ¼ 70)

Hughes and

Lomaev (1972)

(N ¼ 389)

Face

width

146.279.5 143.073.9(N ¼ 214) 140.575.6 143.576.9 136.677.5 140.676.4 139.078.0 145.175.9 – 147.675.0 140.475.8

Face

length

116.177.4 119.076.6(N ¼ 11150) 121.976.5 122.777.1 113.777.3 122.177.1 126.077.0 120.276.2 120.176.1 120.675.9 115.577.1

Female This study

2006

(N ¼ 191)

CNIS (1998)a Gordon et al.

(1989)b

(N ¼ 2208)

Zhuang and

Bradtmiller (2005)c

(N ¼ 1454)

Liau et al.

(1982)

(N ¼ 0)

Gross and

Horstman (1990)

(N ¼ 60)

Oestenstad and

Perkins (1992)

(N ¼ 30)

Han et al.

(1997)

(N ¼ 101)

KRISS

(1998)

(N ¼ 250)

Kim et al.

(2003)

(N ¼ 40)

Hughes and

Lomaev (1972)

(N ¼ 0)

Face

width

137.376.9 136.073.7(N ¼ 179) 131.375.0 135.076.5 – 130.175.7 129.076.0 134.175.9 – 136.674.9 –

Face

length

104.275.8 109.075.7(N ¼ 11150) 113.576.0 113.476.1 – 110.976.5 118.075.0 109.575.2 110.975.3 109.674.2 –

aChina National Standard (GB/T 2428-1998) (CNIS, 1998).bAnthropology Research Project, Inc. (NATICK/TR-89/027) (Data of USAF 1988, by Gordon et al., 1989).cNational Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), report unpublished (Data of NIOSH 2003, by Zhuang and Bradtmiller, 2005).

130

130

150

150170

1601

140

140

120

120Face W

idth / mm

NIO

SH Panels

Female

GB

/T 2428

Face Length / mm

110

1009080

Female subjects

This study

Fig.4.Bivaria

tedistrib

utio

noffacia

ldim

ensio

nsforfem

ale

subjects

against

theNIO

SH

panels.

L.

Ya

ng

,H

.S

hen

/In

terna

tion

al

Jo

urn

al

of

Ind

ustria

lE

rgo

no

mics

38

(2

00

8)

92

1–

92

6924

RETRACTED

80cts

80

ARTICLE IN PRESS

Table 4

Distribution of facial dimensions by gender

Chinese NIOSH panels number of samples (%) Total

Cell 1 Cell 2 Cell 3 Cell 4 Cell 5 Cell 6 Cell 7 Cell 8 Cell 9 Cell 10

Male (N ¼ 270) 9 (3.3) 17 (6.3) 10 (3.7) 52 (19.3) 74 (27.4) 1 (0.4) 36 (13.3) 30 (11.1) 1 (0.4) 9 (3.3) 239 (88.5)

Female (N ¼ 191) 24 (12.6) 69 (36.1) 2 (1.0) 30 (15.7) 28 (14.7) 2 (1.0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 155 (81.2)

Total (N ¼ 461) 33 (7.2) 86 (18.7) 12 (2.6) 82 (17.8) 102 (22.1) 3 (0.7) 36 (6.9) 30 (6.5) 1 (0.2) 9 (2.0) 394 (85.5)

L. Yang, H. Shen / International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 38 (2008) 921–926 925

AC

study are lower than those of the American groups. As theAsian racial groups, Chinese and Koreans have the similarface width. However, the facial anthropometric dimensionsof Chinese are different from those of the Americansubjects, which include White, Black, Hispanic andAmerican Indian. Consequently, half-mask respirator de-sign and sizing for Chinese individuals should consider thehigher value of face width and the lower value of facelength.

The high SD of face width illustrated in Table 3, which is8.9, indicates that those anthropometric values for theChinese males have a large dispersion. It can be attributedto the great diversity in geographic region background inthe volunteer subjects. The subjects from northern Chinahave larger face width, while others from southern Chinahave lower values of face width.

About 85.5% of anthropometric values of face widthand face length are included in the NIOSH panels.However, this percentage is much lower than 97.7% inNIOSH research (Zhuang, 2004). When the NIOSH panelshave to be applied to Chinese individuals, they shouldbe modified in order to be applicable to the Chinesepopulation. Adding two cells for the NIOSH panels isrecommended so that they can include the anthropometricvalues scattering outside the NIOSH panels. Additionally,cell 4 and cell 5, which cover about 40% of total samplesshown in Table 4, must be considered in new respirator fittest panels for the Chinese. It is proposed in this study thatnew panels for the Chinese groups should be composedof cell 1, cell 2, cell 4, cell 5, cell 7, cell8 and the twoaccessional cells. Based on new respirator fit test panels,half-mask respirators for Chinese individuals should bedesigned with larger transverse opening and shorterlengthways opening than those for the American groups.

5. Summary

The key facial dimensions for half-mask respiratordesign and sizing have been collected by Chinese studentsand teachers in this study. We have gotten the differencesof two key facial anthropometric dimensions between theChinese and other ethnic groups, such as the American, theKorean and the Australian. Anthropometric results of thisstudy support the urgent necessary of new fit test panels forhalf-mask respirator design and sizing for the Chinese. Theresults can also be considered for the face ergonomicdesigns of the respirator, especially half-mask respirator

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design and sizing. However, small number of samples inthis study may make facial anthropometric measurementsbiased. Further research should be focused on large surveyof different ethnic groups in various regions of China.

Acknowledgments

The research is supported by the Government ofP.R. China, 111 Project B07024 ‘‘Biomedical TextileMaterials Science and Technology’’. Authors acknowledgevolunteer students and teachers from Zhongyuan Uni-versity of Technology and Donghua University for theirhelp in anthropometric survey. We also thank Dr. ZhuangZiqing from NIOSH and Dr. Su Yaxin from DonghuaUniversity for their constructive comments on thisresearch.

TED

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