title: In-car countermeasures open window and music revisited on the real road: popular but hardly effective against driver sleepiness.
abstract: This study investigated the effects of two very commonly used countermeasures against driver sleepiness, opening the window and listening to music, on subjective and physiological sleepiness measures during real road driving. In total, 24 individuals participated in the study. Sixteen participants received intermittent 10-min intervals of: (i) open window (2 cm opened); and (ii) listening to music, during both day and night driving on an open motorway. Both subjective sleepiness and physiological sleepiness (blink duration) was estimated to be significantly reduced when subjects listened to music, but the effect was only minor compared with the pronounced effects of night driving and driving duration. Open window had no attenuating effect on either sleepiness measure. No significant long-term effects beyond the actual countermeasure application intervals occurred, as shown by comparison to the control group (n = 8). Thus, despite their popularity, opening the window and listening to music cannot be recommended as sole countermeasures against driver sleepiness.
authors.affiliation: The Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden. johanna.schwarz@stress.su.se
authors.forename: Johanna F A
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Schwarz
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ingre
authors.forename: Carina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fors
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Anund
authors.forename: Göran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kecklund
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Taillard
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Philip
authors.forename: Torbjörn
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Åkerstedt
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control; D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology*; D001336:Automobiles; D001767:Blinking / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009146:Music; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology*; D013548:Sweden; D013997:Time Factors; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology*