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Currently, no high impact helmet standards exist for children. To meet the rising demand for these helmets in the youth market, manufacturers have basically downsized adult helmets. Children's heads and necks are very different than are adult's. Therefore, youth helmets do not provide the same level of protection as do adult helmets. We determined head mass and circumference in 128 childhood athletes aged 7 to 17, as well as made 95 separate anthropometric measurements from skull x-rays of children aged 6 to 17. We defined two distinct age groups. Group A, ages 6 to 11, and Group B ages 12 to 17. Comparing these measurements to adult measurements, and using previously reported anatomical differences we were able to show that the heads and necks of children are much different than are adults in mass, circumference and the ratio of head length to neck length. And, that these differences point out real and potential issues with youth helmets.

The Head and Neck Support device (HANS) was developed to reduce the potentially injurious motions to the head and neck during severe frontal and angled-frontal impacts. The effectiveness of the HANS device has been rigorously proven by extensive HyGe sled test work by Daimler-Chrysler (Germany) and reported in two SAE papers (1,2). The aim of this work was to develop appropriate test methodologies and criteria for a new FIA Test Specification to support the integration of the HANS system into the FIA Formula One and Formula 3000 Championships. The new test specification includes requirements for both the HANS system and the HANS to helmet interface. It was also necessary to formulate an objective geometrical definition for the HANS system. The laboratory test configuration was developed to simulate the loading conditions during a dynamic sled test. TRL conducted both proof and destructive tests, in order to establish appropriate criteria.

Currently, there is great interest in motorsports medicine in measuring driver head impact accelerations by adding small triaxial accelerometers to the communication earpieces worn by drivers. Various studies have attempted to validate the ability of the earpiece accelerometers to accurately measure head accelerations. Those experiments demonstrate success in being able to measure head accelerations on dummies and humans in low severity impacts and non-impact head motion. No study has been performed to ascertain the ability of the earpiece accelerometers to accurately measure rigid body head accelerations of the skull when they are mounted in a human ear canal and subjected to high severity head accelerations. This research was performed to evaluate the frequency response and coupling of the earpiece accelerometers to the human skull using post mortem human subject (PMHS) heads as the most realistic surrogate for the living human.