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Determinants of Motion Sickness in Tilting Trains: Coriolis/Cross-Coupling Stimuli and Tilt Delay

Faster trains require tilting of the cars to counterbalance the centrifugal forces during curves. Motion sensitive passengers, however, complain of discomfort and overt motion sickness. A recent study comparing different control systems in a tilting train, suggested that the delay of car tilts relat...

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Autores principales: Bertolini, Giovanni, Durmaz, Meek Angela, Ferrari, Kim, Küffer, Alexander, Lambert, Charlotte, Straumann, Dominik
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5430385/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28555125
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2017.00195
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author Bertolini, Giovanni
Durmaz, Meek Angela
Ferrari, Kim
Küffer, Alexander
Lambert, Charlotte
Straumann, Dominik
author_facet Bertolini, Giovanni
Durmaz, Meek Angela
Ferrari, Kim
Küffer, Alexander
Lambert, Charlotte
Straumann, Dominik
author_sort Bertolini, Giovanni
collection PubMed
description Faster trains require tilting of the cars to counterbalance the centrifugal forces during curves. Motion sensitive passengers, however, complain of discomfort and overt motion sickness. A recent study comparing different control systems in a tilting train, suggested that the delay of car tilts relative to the curve of the track contributes to motion sickness. Other aspects of the motion stimuli, like the lateral accelerations and the car jitters, differed between the tested conditions and prevented a final conclusion on the role of tilt delay. Nineteen subjects were tested on a motorized 3D turntable that simulated the roll tilts during yaw rotations experienced on a tilting train, isolating them from other motion components. Each session was composed of two consecutive series of 12 ideal curves that were defined on the bases of recordings during an actual train ride. The simulated car tilts started either at the beginning of the curve acceleration phase (no-delay condition) or with 3 s of delay (delay condition). Motion sickness was self-assessed by each subject at the end of each series using an analog motion sickness scale. All subjects were tested in both conditions. Significant increases of motion sickness occurred after the first sequence of 12 curves in the delay condition, but not in the no-delay condition. This increase correlated with the sensitivity of motion sickness, which was self-assessed by each subject before the experiment. The second sequence of curve did not lead to a significant further increase of motion sickness in any condition. Our results demonstrate that, even if the speed and amplitude are as low as those experienced on tilting trains, a series of roll tilts with a delay relative to the horizontal rotations, isolated from other motion stimuli occurring during a travel, generate Coriolis/cross-coupling stimulations sufficient to rapidly induce motion sickness in sensitive individuals. The strength and the rapid onset of the motion sickness reported confirm that, even if the angular velocity involved are low, the Coriolis/cross-coupling resulting from the delay is a major factor in causing sickness that can be resolved by improving the tilt timing relative to the horizontal rotation originating from the curve.
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spelling pubmed-54303852017-05-29 Determinants of Motion Sickness in Tilting Trains: Coriolis/Cross-Coupling Stimuli and Tilt Delay Bertolini, Giovanni Durmaz, Meek Angela Ferrari, Kim Küffer, Alexander Lambert, Charlotte Straumann, Dominik Front Neurol Neuroscience Faster trains require tilting of the cars to counterbalance the centrifugal forces during curves. Motion sensitive passengers, however, complain of discomfort and overt motion sickness. A recent study comparing different control systems in a tilting train, suggested that the delay of car tilts relative to the curve of the track contributes to motion sickness. Other aspects of the motion stimuli, like the lateral accelerations and the car jitters, differed between the tested conditions and prevented a final conclusion on the role of tilt delay. Nineteen subjects were tested on a motorized 3D turntable that simulated the roll tilts during yaw rotations experienced on a tilting train, isolating them from other motion components. Each session was composed of two consecutive series of 12 ideal curves that were defined on the bases of recordings during an actual train ride. The simulated car tilts started either at the beginning of the curve acceleration phase (no-delay condition) or with 3 s of delay (delay condition). Motion sickness was self-assessed by each subject at the end of each series using an analog motion sickness scale. All subjects were tested in both conditions. Significant increases of motion sickness occurred after the first sequence of 12 curves in the delay condition, but not in the no-delay condition. This increase correlated with the sensitivity of motion sickness, which was self-assessed by each subject before the experiment. The second sequence of curve did not lead to a significant further increase of motion sickness in any condition. Our results demonstrate that, even if the speed and amplitude are as low as those experienced on tilting trains, a series of roll tilts with a delay relative to the horizontal rotations, isolated from other motion stimuli occurring during a travel, generate Coriolis/cross-coupling stimulations sufficient to rapidly induce motion sickness in sensitive individuals. The strength and the rapid onset of the motion sickness reported confirm that, even if the angular velocity involved are low, the Coriolis/cross-coupling resulting from the delay is a major factor in causing sickness that can be resolved by improving the tilt timing relative to the horizontal rotation originating from the curve. Frontiers Media S.A. 2017-05-15 /pmc/articles/PMC5430385/ /pubmed/28555125 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2017.00195 Text en Copyright © 2017 Bertolini, Durmaz, Ferrari, Küffer, Lambert and Straumann. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Bertolini, Giovanni
Durmaz, Meek Angela
Ferrari, Kim
Küffer, Alexander
Lambert, Charlotte
Straumann, Dominik
Determinants of Motion Sickness in Tilting Trains: Coriolis/Cross-Coupling Stimuli and Tilt Delay
title Determinants of Motion Sickness in Tilting Trains: Coriolis/Cross-Coupling Stimuli and Tilt Delay
title_full Determinants of Motion Sickness in Tilting Trains: Coriolis/Cross-Coupling Stimuli and Tilt Delay
title_fullStr Determinants of Motion Sickness in Tilting Trains: Coriolis/Cross-Coupling Stimuli and Tilt Delay
title_full_unstemmed Determinants of Motion Sickness in Tilting Trains: Coriolis/Cross-Coupling Stimuli and Tilt Delay
title_short Determinants of Motion Sickness in Tilting Trains: Coriolis/Cross-Coupling Stimuli and Tilt Delay
title_sort determinants of motion sickness in tilting trains: coriolis/cross-coupling stimuli and tilt delay
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5430385/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28555125
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2017.00195
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