App developed to measure and predict seasickness

Study aims to improve data for managing motion sickness

SOUTH AFRICA: A postdoctoral student at the University of Stellenbosch has created a mobile app to help her conduct research on motion sickness of mariners on the SA Agulhas II.

Dr Nicole Taylor, who is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Sound and Vibration and Mechatronics, Automation and Design Research Groups in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, says that existing models tend to describe levels of motion sickness for groups rather than individuals.

But, because some seafarers are more susceptible to seasickness than others, and their responses differ, it is important to determine how it affects each individual seafarer.

According to an article on the Stellenbosch University website, Taylor’s Mariner 4.0 system is advancing the study of motion seasickness among seafarers by facilitating mobile data collection on the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s (DFFE) icebreaker.

The app was installed on participants’ smartphones who were encouraged to log their experiences of motion sickness alongside their location on board the vessel at least three times a day. In addition, daily questionnaires captured feedback relating to their perceptions of seasickness that aimed to rate the severity on a scale of 0 to three.

Taylor says the Mariner 4.0 system made it possible to monitor the motion sickness of seafarers in almost real-time. “With the Mariner 4.0 system, data on motion sickness and occupant location, as well as ship motion that typically make passengers feel sick in parallel, can be measured and analysed quickly. It also provides accurate estimates of how sick passengers feel based on how much the ship moves.

“We were able to collect information directly from the passengers to measure motion sickness by asking them to indicate via the app if they've felt sick or not. We could also individually monitor passenger's exposure to motion for extended durations and measure the severity of motion sickness symptoms.

“Because data is accessible in real time, it is much easier to reduce the incidence and severity of motion sickness symptoms during voyages and to improve the performances of various tasks during ship operations."

Using the data, Taylor was able to develop guidelines for assessing motion sickness in passengers, both individually and as a group, as well as how likely they were to get seasick and how severe it might be.

“Personalised thresholds for multiple seafarers were generated that can help diagnose whether individuals may be motion sick or what percentage of seafarers in a cohort may have motion sickness symptoms when exposed to a certain level of ship motion over specific durations.

“These thresholds can be tailored to voyage specifications, and different voyage missions, including duration of motion exposure, and can be used on voyages that are longer than six hours (a previous restriction for the assessment of motion sickness). Thresholds such as these were not reported in literature prior to my doctoral study."

Taylor adds that these thresholds can also be adapted to various durations of motion exposure from 30 minutes to six hours. They could potentially aid in voyage planning and ship design.

SOURCE: Stellenbosch University

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