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This study attempts to develop a multi-dimensional scale for assessing comfort or discomfort of a chair. The authors validate their scale by conducting field studies of office workers using chairs, judging chairs, and then comparing these results to two existing assessment methods. The design of a chair influences the user’s perceptions of comfort and discomfort of the chair.
Findings
1. Evaluate a chair for the response it evokes about its aesthetics and the sense of well being from an observer as they affect perceived comfort.
2. Evaluate chair comfort and discomfort using the same checklist as users can give a sense of overall comfort by viewing all descriptions together.
Key Concepts
 Comfort and discomfort are affected by different variables and hence the reduction of one does not mean the increase of the other. Discomfort is related to biomechanics and fatigue; comfort is related to well-being and aesthetics.
Discomfort factors, when present, predominate in the perception of comfort/discomfort of a chair; however from high values of comfort or discomfort a low value of the other entity can be predicted.
From low level comfort/discomfort, it is not possible to predict the high or low level of comfort/discomfort of a chair.
Spaciousness of a chair is an important factor in assessing the comfort level of a chair.
Tall secretaries experienced more discomfort than their shorter counterparts. This could be
due to effects like “heavy legs” and “uneven pressure” from the seat back and seat pan.
The longer one sits on a chair the greater one experiences fatigue, however comfort or discomfort does not change over time.
A chair user changes posture while sitting to relieve discomfort caused by built up body pressure.
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