Equipment and Methods
1. Infrared Tympanic Thermometer
Two types of infrared tympanic thermometers were adopted in this study. One is the OMRON MC-510 Gentle Temp model (OMRON Co., Japan). The other is the BRAUN IRT-3020 Themoscan model (Braun Co., Germany). The operating procedures for ear temperature measurement were described in detail in their manual. The specifications of the two thermometers are listed in Table 1.
 
Table 1.
Specification of the infrared clinical thermometers.
2. Standard Temperature
The standard temperature was prepared by a temperature calibrator and a blackbody cavity. This standard temperature was simulated as the tympanic temperature to evaluate the performance of two types of infrared thermometers. The standard temperature served as the standard for performance testing.
The model of temperature calibrator is TC-2000 Scan Sense (Instrutek Co., Norway). The operating temperature was ranged from −40 °C to 150 °C. The inner temperature of oil bath for calibration was detected by a four-wire Pt-100 thermometer. The uncertainty of this calibrator is 0.03 °C according to its specifications.
An aluminum cylinder was inserted into the oil bath of the calibrator. The length of the cylinder was 14.5 cm and the diameter was 0.485 cm. The emissivity of this cylinder was assembled to be unity calculated from the calculation equation of blackbody cavity.
3. Testing Procedures
The target temperature for calibration of infrared thermometer was maintained at 34.5, 36.0, 37.5, 39.0 and 40.5 °C. The performance test experiment was executed in an environmental chamber at three levels of ambient temperature: 25 °C, 30 °C and 35 °C. The variation of the setting temperature was controlled within ±1 °C.
Each infrared thermometer was randomly measured at five sets of standard temperatures at the same ambient temperature. Five replicates were made for each standard temperature. As one measurement was made, the infrared thermometer was taken out of the blackbody cavity for five minutes and then put into the cavity again for further measurement.
4. Data Analysis   
The performance of infrared thermometers was assessed by their accuracy and repeatability. The definition of accuracy is the closeness with which a measurement approaches true value. The error is defined as:
Ei=Tr−Ts
(1)
where Tr is reading value of the infrared thermometer in °C; and Ts is standard value of the infrared thermometer in °C.
The standard deviation of data sets was calculated from replicates. These values were then further analyzed by one and two way ANOVAs (Analysis of Variance) and other statistical procedure. Significance was taken as P < 0.05. The P value is the smallest level of significance that would be to reject the hypothesis.
5. Establish the Calibration
The regression analysis technique was applied to establish the calibration equation from the relationship between the standard values and the reading values. The criteria for selecting of the best equation are the coefficient of determination R2, t-tests of each parameters and residual plots.
To establish the calibration equation, the standard values of the standard temperature made by a temperature calibrator were selected as the dependent value y. The reading values of the infrared thermometer were viewed as an independent variable. The ambient temperature of the experiment testing is assumed as the other independent variable. This calibration equation f(x) is called as the inverse equation:
y=f(xi)
(2)
The form of y(x) can be expressed as follows:
y=b0+b1X1+b2X21
(3)
where X1 is the reading values of infrared thermometer, b0, b1, b2 are parameters.
Many texts dealing with the calibration equation reported that the reading values of the thermometer were viewed as the independent variable and the standard values of temperature were viewed as the dependent variable. This equation is called as the classical equation. However, the inverse equation has shown the better predictive ability. 红外鼓膜温度计英文文献和中文翻译(4):http://www.751com.cn/fanyi/lunwen_16489.html