Can music relieve car sickness without drugs?
New research has revealed that listening to fun or calming music can help you recover from motion sickness more effectively.
Unbranded – Lifestyle
- One in three adults and one in two children suffer from motion sickness.
- Vehicle passengers are more likely to suffer from this problem because they cannot predict what’s ahead in the same way as the driver.
A quick search for “motion sickness” on the web will bring up a lot of entries, many of which have to do with being a passenger in a car.
That’s no coincidence. Motion sickness is more common among passengers than drivers. It is said that almost one in three adults and one in two children suffer from motion sickness.
This is an issue that is expected to be particularly pronounced in what many see as the future of self-driving transportation, and is already a problem for many riders who use ride-hailing services like Uber. Studies have shown that people in electric cars are more prone to motion sickness than those in gasoline-powered cars.
For this reason, researchers at the University of Michigan are developing several new tools designed to solve the problem.
Causes of motion sickness
PhD candidate Daniel Souza Shulman and mechanical engineering professor Shourya Autal founded a startup called Motion Sync to help bring this technology to market.
Research into the technology has been underway for about five years, including studies with more than 150 people at Mcity, UM’s self-driving vehicle testing site.
According to a news release, their findings “showed a statistically significant reduction in participants’ feelings of motion sickness, with 80% saying it was a technology they would want included in their next car purchase.”
According to Outtar, car passengers are more likely to experience motion sickness for a simple reason.
“They don’t know what’s going to happen,” Outard said.
As drivers approach a bend, they lean into the bend to prepare for what’s about to happen. When you try to apply the brakes, you might slightly tighten your core muscles, said Outtar, who heads the university’s precision systems design lab.
Passengers may not anticipate the next turn or stop, and their bodies and heads may sway slightly inside the vehicle, causing motion sickness.
Major automakers are working on treatments for motion sickness
The technology the startup is developing is called PREACT and will be offered in two options. Address problems using both hardware and software.
One option the team plans to bring to market within a year will be sold online as an aftermarket product. Thin seat cushions are equipped to send “tactile cues” to the occupants. Basically, it’s a vibration similar to the one produced by a mobile phone to signal an upcoming turn or stop. Schulman, CEO of Motion Sync and chief engineer of PREACT, says the vibrations create “a sense of anticipation of what’s going to happen.” “The vibrations are very intuitive.”
The cost will likely be in the hundreds of dollars, and a monthly subscription will be required to manage the software, which Outtar calls “the brain of the system.”
“This combination makes it very affordable and very accessible to everyone. There’s no need to buy a new car,” Outtar said.
Outtar said the second option is still far from implementation, but the team is in talks with major car manufacturers. This is a seat that tilts in anticipation of the movement of the car. It costs a few thousand dollars, but it’s factored into the total cost of your new car.
Motion sickness increases due to change in transportation mode
The problem of motion sickness is not new, but as transportation changes, it could become even more of a concern without mitigation measures.
A 2024 study published in the scientific journal Transportation Engineering said that in a fully self-driving car, “every vehicle occupant becomes a passenger,” and that “studies show passengers are almost twice as likely to experience symptoms of motion sickness compared to traveling in a human-driven vehicle.”
Shulman said motion sickness is more of an issue in electric cars than in gas-powered cars. EVs use regenerative braking, which can be applied “aggressively” and lack some of the audible cues that gas-powered cars provide.
If you use a ride-hailing service like Uber, concerns about motion sickness can easily be found online. At Uber, being a passenger is a whole experience. A post from last year — titled “I accomplished a lot with Ubers.” I’m trying not to throw up now — it highlights the problem.
“As the number of passengers increases, there will be more and more exposure to motion sickness, especially if you want to make up for commute time,” Schulman said.
PREACT technology was designed to address this.
Research funding for the project comes in part from the U.S. Department of Transportation-sponsored Center for Connected and Automated Transportation, Michigan’s Translational Research and Commercialization for Advanced Transportation, and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s Office of Future Mobility and Electrification, Outtar said, noting that the university’s international students have contributed significantly to its development.
Contact Eric D. Lawrence at elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.
