Development of new respirator fit panels in computer supported cooperative design for the Chinese

The current respirator fit panels in computer supported cooperative design, which is based on facial anthropometric survey of the American groups, may not represent other races. This study was conducted to investigate the differences of facial anthropometric dimensions between the Chinese and the American, and to establish new respirator fit panels applicable to the Chinese groups. The results show that facial anthropometric measurements of 461 Chinese subjects are different from those of the American groups in previous literatures. Those current respirator fit panels may not fairly present the facial anthropometric characteristics of the Chinese groups. The results of fitting data of the Chinese survey into new panels demonstrate that more than 97% of the Chinese population can be represented by new panels in terms of face length and face width. New panels may be applicable for computer supported cooperative design for the respirator productions for the Chinese groups.