After obtaining ethical approval from the Committee on Health Research Ethics for the Capital Region of Denmark (H-22068454), two parallel experimental campaigns were conducted with autonomous (level A according to DSM-5-TR) autistic participants:
1. Living Lab Campaign (LLC). In office-like environments, a group of autistic people and a group of non-autistic controls were exposed to different environmental conditions. The thermal, visual, acoustic, and IAQ conditions were controlled, while participants answered comfort questionnaires and carried out performance tests. Environmental and physiological (heartbeat and skin temperature) parameters were measured.
2. Field Study Campaign (FSC). Environmental monitoring was carried out in dwellings of autistic participants all over Denmark, who were periodically asked to answer comfort questionnaires (all four comfort domains).
Descriptive statistics and state-of-the art statistical methods were performed with the following objectives: 1. To compare the environmental perception of autistic people with a control group, quantifying the differences in terms of indoor requirements; 2. To verify the applicability of current comfort models (e.g. PMV-PPD and adaptive for thermal comfort) with autistic people and to evaluate their preferred environmental conditions; 3. To evaluate the effect of different combination of thermal conditions, view-out availability (view out / no view out) and light spectrum of artificial light on indoor well-being and performance of a group of autistic people compared with a control group; 4. To highlight the limits of current adaptation understandings when associated with the categories here considered; 5. To associate the different responses to subjective human characteristics (gender, age, co-occurring conditions, number of autistic traits); 6. To explore the combined effects of the four comfort domains on the environmental well-being of autistic people; 7. To validate the results obtained in a living lab under “real life” conditions.
