Combining Psychophysical Measures of Discomfort and Electromyography for the Evaluation of a New Automotive Seating Concept

The purpose of this study was to determine if the advantages and disadvantages of a new automotive seating concept, known as the micro-adjuster control system, could be reliably evaluated using both a physiological assessment technique (i.e., electromyography [EMG]) and a subjective questionnaire. T...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics 2002-01, Vol.8 (4), p.483-496
Main Authors: Kolich, Mike, Taboun, Salem M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Automobiles
automotive seating
Canada
Electromyography
Equipment Design
Ergonomics
Female
Humans
Male
Motor Activity - physiology
Psychophysics
Surveys and Questionnaires
Citations: Items that cite this one
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Summary:The purpose of this study was to determine if the advantages and disadvantages of a new automotive seating concept, known as the micro-adjuster control system, could be reliably evaluated using both a physiological assessment technique (i.e., electromyography [EMG]) and a subjective questionnaire. The results indicate that psychophysical measures of discomfort and the root mean squared (RMS) activity of the EMG are statistically related, r (8) = −.788, p = .020. More specifically, subjective perceptions of comfort were found to improve with decreasing levels of muscle activity. This implies that seat comfort can be evaluated on the basis of physiological as well as subjective responses to prolonged driving. This finding should drastically improve automobile seat design efforts.
ISSN:1080-3548
2376-9130
DOI:10.1080/10803548.2002.11076549