Development of a Novel Tympanic Temperature Monitoring System for GT Car Racing Athletes

Motor racing athletes, especially Grand Touring (GT) car racing drivers in the closed-cockpit category, can face lifethreatening situations caused by heat stroke. In this paper, a novel continuous tympanic temperature monitoring system, that could help to reduce this risk, is presented. The system consists of an earpiece containing an infrared-radiation-type tympanic thermometer and a micro-speaker. We validated the reliability of the system for tympanic temperature monitoring in 10 healthy volunteers (21.8 ± 1.0 S.D. years) using a temperature-controlled water bath. In addition, we evaluated the usefulness of the system with 2 professional drivers under real racing conditions in the 2010 SUPER GT International Series. The results showed strong correlation between the infrared-radiation tympanic temperature obtained by the present system and both the direct tympanic temperature (r = 0.994, n = 1119, P < 0.001) and the sublingual temperature (r = 0.972, n = 1119, P < 0.001) as a reference temperature. The mean difference between these temperatures was +0.09 °C, and -0.08 °C, and 95 % confidence interval (equal to 1.96 S.D.) was 0.21 °C, and 0.44 °C, respectively. In the field test, involving real competitive racing under severe conditions on a racing circuit, the system functioned well. These results suggest that our novel system has an acceptable performance in a race setting as a reliable tympanic temperature monitor and could help to improve safety of motor sports.