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Many Japanese hay fever (HF) sufferers wear a hygienic face mask to prevent pollen inhalation, but most find it very uncomfortable. The purpose of this paper is to identify the problems associated with mask wearing through repeated surveys. This information can be used in the improved design of a hygienic face mask that can be worn without discomfort by HF sufferers.

In 2009 (n=1,519), 2012 (n=2,994), and 2015 (n=3,213), repeated surveys of university students were conducted. HF sufferers were queried regarding symptoms, countermeasures, and problems associated with wearing a hygienic face mask. Holistic perspectives for each year were obtained by a co-occurrence analysis of the aggregated data. The triplet co-occurrence of specific problems was compared among the surveys using the χ² test. Temporary and contemporary co-occurrence relationships were also determined.

Most Japanese university students with HF wore a hygienic face mask. In each survey, the most common problems associated with mask use were related to its thermal, hygroscopic, and air-flow properties. Contemporary problems with co-occurrence relationships were “humidity,” “breathing difficulty,” and “mist over eyeglasses” for males and, “humidity,” “breathing difficulty,” and “make-up coming off” for females.

The results of this study will contribute to improving hygienic face mask design. The co-occurrence of contemporary problems related to mask use was identified by comparing the results obtained in each year. The thermal, hygroscopic, and air flow properties of the mask cause these problems, and the air gap between the mask and the wearer’s face influences the inherent physical properties of the mask. To measure the air gap, a suitable hydrostatic pressure-balanced experimental method was applied, and the data were demonstrated experimentally.

The present study obtained the topography of perceptible (a perfect-fit feeling) clothing pressures from the chest to groin, when a stretching material provided hoop tension to the body surface of participants. Furthermore, the allowable pressure level was examined for the abdomen, which is pressed by underclothes on a daily basis.

Participants were nine women aged 21.3 ± 1.2 years. Each participant's perception of pressure while wearing the experimental band was obtained in a questionnaire using a visual analog scale. Clothing pressure was measured employing a hydrostatic pressure-balancing method as participants adjusted the band length themselves to achieve two conditions: a perfect-fit and tight-fit on the abdomen.

The range of comfortable clothing pressure tightening provided by a 2.5 cm-wide elastic band on the abdomen was 0–5.6 hPa for under the bust, waist and groin, and 4.4–9.3 hPa for the chest, lower waist and hips. A nerve plexus of the autonomic nervous system and arteries are distributed over the body surface of the former body parts, which were thus sensitive to tightening around the abdomen.

The topography of perceptible clothing pressure was obtained when stretching material provided hoop tension to the body surface of the participant. The results of a participant questionnaire agreed with clothing pressure obtained using a hydrostatic pressure-balancing method that has a short-time constant and sensitive resolution. Furthermore, allowable pressure levels were proposed.

Relationships have been investigated between subjective pressure sensation and objective pressure measured, for knit garments of different sizes and fabrics with different extensibilities. Fechner's logarithmic law is used to investigate the relations. Equations are obtained for describing the Psychophysical mechanism of clothing pressure perception under certain conditions. Objective pressure measuring had high predictive power with regard to subjective pressure sensation only under those conditions. Wearing pressure comfort has a negative correlation with feelings of fetter, scratchy, heavy and pressure, and has a poor correlation with feelings of softness and smoothness. Using factor analysis with principal factor solutions and rotated by the Varimax method, we obtained factor matrices.