Endonasal temperature and humidity profile after exposure to different climatic conditions

Background and objective. The nose as the first segment of the upper respir atory tract is exposed to different climatic conditions of the ambient air. The purpose of this study was to determine whether nasal air conditioning of ambient air is influenced by a short-term exposure to air of different c limatic conditions. Patients and Methods. Fifteen healthy volunteers were enclosed into the stu dy. A miniaturised humidity sensor and thermocouple was used for detection of humidity and airway temperature at three detection sites within the ante rior nasal cavity. Both parameters were measured at the end of inspiration during breathing of ambient air after exposure to cold dry air,"normal" amb ient air,and warm humid air for 10 minutes. Results. The end-inspiratory intranasal humidity during breathing of ambien t air increased at all locations within the nose when the temperature and h umidity of the exposure condition increased. At the most anterior detection site, the effect of increase in humidity after exposure to the different c limatic conditions was the most pronounced. The increase in intranasal temp erature had no relation to the different climatic conditions during the sho rt-term exposure. Conclusions. The results suggest that nasal humidification in ambient air c an be influenced by short-term exposure to air of extreme temperature and h umidity prior to breathing of ambient air.