Distracting people from sources of discomfort in a simulated aircraft environment

BACKGROUND: Comfort is an important factor in the acceptance of transport systems. In 2010 and 2011, the European Commission (EC) put forward its vision for air travel in the year 2050 which envisaged the use of in-flight virtual reality. This paper addressed the EC vision by investigating the effec...

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Main Authors: Lewis, Laura, Harshada, Patel, Cobb, Sue, D'Cruz, Mirabelle, Bues, Matthias, Stefani, Oliver, Tredeaux, Grobler
Format: Article
Published: IOS Press 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/36254/
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author Lewis, Laura
Harshada, Patel
Cobb, Sue
D'Cruz, Mirabelle
Bues, Matthias
Stefani, Oliver
Tredeaux, Grobler
author_facet Lewis, Laura
Harshada, Patel
Cobb, Sue
D'Cruz, Mirabelle
Bues, Matthias
Stefani, Oliver
Tredeaux, Grobler
author_sort Lewis, Laura
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description BACKGROUND: Comfort is an important factor in the acceptance of transport systems. In 2010 and 2011, the European Commission (EC) put forward its vision for air travel in the year 2050 which envisaged the use of in-flight virtual reality. This paper addressed the EC vision by investigating the effect of virtual environments on comfort. Research has shown that virtual environments can provide entertaining experiences and can be effective distracters from painful experiences. OBJECTIVE: To determine the extent to which a virtual environment could distract people from sources of discomfort. METHODS: Experiments which involved inducing discomfort commonly experienced in-flight (e.g. limited space, noise) in order to determine the extent to which viewing a virtual environment could distract people from discomfort. RESULTS: Virtual environments can fully or partially distract people from sources of discomfort, becoming more effective when they are interesting. They are also more effective at distracting people from discomfort caused by restricted space than noise disturbances. CONCLUSIONS: Virtual environments have the potential to enhance passenger comfort by providing positive distractions from sources of discomfort. Further research is required to understand more fully the reasons why the effect was stronger for one source of discomfort than the other.
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spelling nottingham-362542020-05-04T18:08:26Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/36254/ Distracting people from sources of discomfort in a simulated aircraft environment Lewis, Laura Harshada, Patel Cobb, Sue D'Cruz, Mirabelle Bues, Matthias Stefani, Oliver Tredeaux, Grobler BACKGROUND: Comfort is an important factor in the acceptance of transport systems. In 2010 and 2011, the European Commission (EC) put forward its vision for air travel in the year 2050 which envisaged the use of in-flight virtual reality. This paper addressed the EC vision by investigating the effect of virtual environments on comfort. Research has shown that virtual environments can provide entertaining experiences and can be effective distracters from painful experiences. OBJECTIVE: To determine the extent to which a virtual environment could distract people from sources of discomfort. METHODS: Experiments which involved inducing discomfort commonly experienced in-flight (e.g. limited space, noise) in order to determine the extent to which viewing a virtual environment could distract people from discomfort. RESULTS: Virtual environments can fully or partially distract people from sources of discomfort, becoming more effective when they are interesting. They are also more effective at distracting people from discomfort caused by restricted space than noise disturbances. CONCLUSIONS: Virtual environments have the potential to enhance passenger comfort by providing positive distractions from sources of discomfort. Further research is required to understand more fully the reasons why the effect was stronger for one source of discomfort than the other. IOS Press 2016-10-01 Article PeerReviewed Lewis, Laura, Harshada, Patel, Cobb, Sue, D'Cruz, Mirabelle, Bues, Matthias, Stefani, Oliver and Tredeaux, Grobler (2016) Distracting people from sources of discomfort in a simulated aircraft environment. Work, 54 (4). pp. 963-979. ISSN 1875-9270 Comfort discomfort virtual reality virtual environments aircraft http://content.iospress.com/articles/work/wor2356 doi:10.3233/WOR-162356 doi:10.3233/WOR-162356
spellingShingle Comfort
discomfort
virtual reality
virtual environments
aircraft
Lewis, Laura
Harshada, Patel
Cobb, Sue
D'Cruz, Mirabelle
Bues, Matthias
Stefani, Oliver
Tredeaux, Grobler
Distracting people from sources of discomfort in a simulated aircraft environment
title Distracting people from sources of discomfort in a simulated aircraft environment
title_full Distracting people from sources of discomfort in a simulated aircraft environment
title_fullStr Distracting people from sources of discomfort in a simulated aircraft environment
title_full_unstemmed Distracting people from sources of discomfort in a simulated aircraft environment
title_short Distracting people from sources of discomfort in a simulated aircraft environment
title_sort distracting people from sources of discomfort in a simulated aircraft environment
topic Comfort
discomfort
virtual reality
virtual environments
aircraft
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/36254/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/36254/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/36254/