Search Results

The objective of this study was to assess the effect of different driving speeds on autonomic nervous activities in healthy drivers on highway by using power spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV). A total of 30 healthy male drivers were randomly divided into three groups: A (with speed of 40 km/h), B (with speed of 80 km/h) and C (with speed of 120 km/h). All drivers were required to be well rested before the experiments. All subjects of three groups were required to drive the car on A20 highway for 2 hours. Heart rate signals were collected throughout the experiment and blood pressure was measured and compared before and after the experiment. Subjective evaluation to a questionnaire was obtained after the driving task in three groups. After the driving task, low frequency (LF) component, high frequency (HF) component and their ratio LF/HF of HRV in normalized units (NU) were calculated and compared between both groups and between the beginning and the end of the task.

In designing an automobile seat, it is important to minimize the fatigue experienced by the driver resulting from long-term sitting. In this study eight healthy male subjects participated in two group experiments that were A-group and B-group. Acupoints combined with magnetism stimuli were put on to the subjects for reducing postural fatigue in B-group during the simulated driving. The surface electromyography (sEMG) of muscle activity at L4/L5 as well as subjective self-reporting on fatigue were recorded and tested. Analyzing and comparing the EMG median frequency and the subjective evaluations between two groups a conclusion that acupoints combined with magnetism stimuli could reduce the driver postural fatigue was drawn.

In designing an automobile seat, it is important to minimize the fatigue experienced by the driver resulting from long-term sitting. In this study eight healthy male subjects participated in two group experiments that were A-group and B-group. Acupuncture was put on to the subjects for reducing postural fatigue in B-group. The sEMG of muscle activity at L4/L5 as well as subjective self-report on fatigue were recorded and tested. By analyzing and comparing the EMG median frequency and the subjective evaluations between two groups a conclusion was drawn that acupuncture could reduce the postural muscle fatigue effectively.

The purpose of this study was to quantifiably evaluate driver mental fatigue using the power spectral analysis of the heart rate variability (HRV). The quantitative detector of driver fatigue can present appropriate warnings and help to prevent traffic accidents. A simulation creating driver mental workload was set up using vigilance, considered to be an accurate assessment of driver mental workload, to evaluate a driver's performance. In the experiment eight healthy male subjects were required to perform a vigilance task for 90 minutes. The physiological variables for evaluating driver mental load were spectral values of heart rate variability (HRV). As a result HRV showed a high correlation with driver mental fatigue.