Effect of Glove Liners on Sweat Rate, Comfort, and Psychomotor Task Performance

Abstract

Military subjects participated in a study to evaluate four glove liners worn beneath chemical protective gloves, with regard to sweating of the hands, manual dexterity performance, and perceived comfort in a moderate thermal environment. Although there was a trend for subjects wearing the standard Army liner to experience the lowest sweat rate, the liner effect was not significant due to individual variation. No liner differences were found for manual dexterity performance, hand skin temperature, perceived temperature, and thermal comfort. Differences by liner were found for tactile descriptors used to assess liner comfort. Skin temperature, perceived temperature, and perceived thermal discomfort increased over the duration of the two-hour test, regardless of the liner worn.