title: Distracting people from sources of discomfort in a simulated aircraft environment.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Human Factors Research Group, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, UK.|Mott MacDonald, Croydon, UK.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.affiliation: Human Factors Research Group, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: Harshada
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Human Factors Research Group, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: Sue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cobb
authors.affiliation: Human Factors Research Group, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: Mirabelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: D'Cruz
authors.affiliation: Light Fusion Lab, Fraunhofer IAO, Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bues
authors.affiliation: Light Fusion Lab, Fraunhofer IAO, Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Stefani
authors.affiliation: Light Fusion Lab, Fraunhofer IAO, Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Tredeaux
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Grobler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000401:Aircraft / Q000592:standards*; D003198:Computer Simulation / Q000592:standards; D004867:Equipment Design / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D011187:Posture; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014584:User-Computer Interface
keywords: Comfort; aircraft; discomfort; virtual environments; virtual reality