# Accuracy of no touch thermometers

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accuracy-of-no-touch-thermometers/939223>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 2, 2021, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accuracy-of-no-touch-thermometers/939223 "2021-04-02T13:23:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

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**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accuracy-of-no-touch-thermometers/939223/2 "2021-04-02T13:46:19Z")

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> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> How accurate are these thermometers, and is there a way to calibrate them?

Supposedly pretty accurate:

> **[Are Infrared Thermometers Accurate?](https://health.clevelandclinic.org/are-infrared-thermometers-accurate)**
>
> Had your temperature checked lately with an infrared thermometer? Here’s why it’s just as safe and effective.

> [Research](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK263237/) has shown that, when used correctly, infrared or no-contact thermometers are just as accurate as oral or rectal thermometers.

When you say it’s “consistently at 98.2,” are you talking about readings of your own temperature? What about when you point it at other people, or at inanimate objects?

**[Here’s the manual (PDF)](https://assets.omega.com/manuals/IR200_UM-en.pdf)** for an **[Omega IR thermometer](https://www.omega.com/en-us/temperature-measurement/noncontact-temperature-measurement/human-temperature-measurement/p/OS200-Series)** that is made for measuring body temp. On page 7, it says it can measure body temp with an accuracy of plus/minus 0.5F. Assuming your thermometer has similar accuracy, then readings of 97.8 and 98.2 should be regarded as being “not meaningfully different.”

I have **[an IR thermometer](https://www.manualslib.com/manual/114639/Omega-Os540.html)** (not made for measuring body temp) with a claimed accuracy of plus/minus 3.6F in the range of body temperature, but when I measure my forehead it comes back with 89F. Hypothermia is defined as a body temp \<95F, and I feel fine, so it seems unlikely that my body temperature is in the range of 85.4-92.6F. I wonder if non-contact forehead thermometers are calculating some kind of adjustment from _actual_ forehead temperature to come up with a number that compares in a useful way with oral/rectal/subbrachial measurements.

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