Electrogastrography in Autonomous Vehicles—An Objective Method for Assessment of Motion Sickness in Simulated Driving Environments

Abstract

Autonomous vehicles are expected to take complete control of the driving process, enabling the former drivers to act as passengers only. This could lead to increased sickness as they can be engaged in tasks other than driving. Adopting different sickness mitigation techniques gives us unique types of motion sickness in autonomous vehicles to be studied. In this paper, we report on a study where we explored the possibilities of assessing motion sickness with electrogastrography (EGG), a non-invasive method used to measure the myoelectric activity of the stomach, and its potential usage in autonomous vehicles (AVs). The study was conducted in a high-fidelity driving simulator with a virtual reality (VR) headset. There separate EGG measurements were performed: before, during and after the driving AV simulation video in VR. During the driving, the participants encountered two driving environments: a straight and less dynamic highway road and a highly dynamic and curvy countryside road. The EGG signal was recorded with a proprietary 3-channel recording device and Ag/AgCl cutaneous electrodes. In addition, participants were asked to signalize whenever they felt uncomfortable and nauseated by pressing a special button. After the drive they completed also the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) and reported on their overall subjective perception of sickness symptoms. The EGG results showed a significant increase of the dominant frequency (DF) and the percentage of the high power spectrum density (FSD) as well as a significant decrease of the power spectrum density Crest factor (CF) during the AV simulation. The vast majority of participants reported nausea during more dynamic conditions, accompanied by an increase in the amplitude and the RMS value of EGG. Reported nausea occurred simultaneously with the increase in EGG amplitude. Based on the results, we conclude that EGG could be used for assessment of motion sickness in autonomous vehicles. DF, CF and FSD can be used as overall sickness indicators, while the relative increase in amplitude of EGG signal and duration of that increase can be used as short-term sickness indicators where the driving environment may affect the driver.

Analysis of gastric electrical rhythm in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

“…Many domestic hospitals lack effective means to evaluate DGMD. Electrogastrogram (EGG) is a non-invasive method of recording gastric electrical signals through the body surface and then indirectly re ecting changes in gastric motility [7]. EGG can provide a wealth of information about the electrical activity of the gastric smooth muscle, such as gastric electrical frequency, regularity, amplitude, and power spectrum.…”

Relating individual motion sickness levels to subjective discomfort ratings

“…Physiological measures, such as Electro-GastroGraphy (EGG; e.g., Gruden et al. 2021 ) or the Galvanic Skin Response (GSR; e.g., McClure et al. 1971 ; Cowings et al.…”

“…Motion sickness may be quantified using physiological measures or subjective rating scales. Physiological measures, such as Electro-GastroGraphy (EGG; e.g., Gruden et al 2021) or the Galvanic Skin Response (GSR; e.g., McClure et al 1971;Cowings et al 1986;Irmak et al 2020) Communicated by Bill J Yates.…”

Workshop on Multimodal Motion Sickness Detection and Mitigation Methods for Car Journeys

“…[4,9,11,19,20], as well as physiological measures that accompany the experience of motion sickness (e.g., heart rate variability, skin temperature, EEG, etc.) [6,12,13,27,28,32,41]. These can further serve as detection methods for motion sickness [23-25, 42][23, 24, 42], that can be employed to define effective mitigation methods, and eventually prevent the onset of motion sickness or reduce the severity of the already experienced symptoms.…”

“…The validation of both has been explored using different experimental setups. From motion platforms [21,24] and simulators [2,14,37] to on road studies using the Wizard of Oz method [1,5,26,36] or AVs [15].…”