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The purpose of this study is to research if a headrest benefits the comfort of the passenger and lowers muscle activity in the neck when sitting in a reclined (slouched) posture while watching in flight entertainment (IFE) in an aircraft business class seat. No significant differences in muscle activity in the musculus sternocleidomastoid and musculus trapezius pars descendant were found between the conditions with headrest and without headrest. A significant difference in expected comfort rating was found. Subjects indicated they expect to experience more comfort with a headrest when watching IFE for a duration of two movies during a long-haul flight. This study also found a significant difference in posture. In the condition without headrest the head was more upright compared to the condition with headrest. The lack of significant difference in muscle activity and the significant difference in posture may indicate that humans tend to look for a head position that is neutral, in the sense of minimal muscle effort. This study shows that the use of a headrest may benefit the comfort experience of the passenger during flight. However, further research is necessary on the design of the headrest and the long-term effects of head support on comfort, discomfort, muscle activity and fatigue for watching IFE in a slouched posture.

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BACKGROUND: The concept of comfort is one way for the growing airline market to differentiate and build customer loyalty. This work follows the idea that increasing the contact area between human and seat can have a positive effect on comfort [5, 6, 7]. OBJECTIVE: To improve comfort, reduce weight and optimise space used, a human contour shaped seat shell and cushioning was developed. METHODS: First the most common activities, the corresponding postures and seat inclination angles were defined. The imprints of these postures on a rescue mat were 3D scanned and an average human contour curve was defined. The outcome was transferred to a prototype seat that was used to test the effect on perceived comfort/discomfort and pressure distribution. RESULTS: The resulting human contour based prototype seat has comfort and discomfort scores comparable to a traditional seat. The prototype seat had a significantly lower average pressure between subjects' buttocks and the seat pan over a traditional seat. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that it is possible to design a seat pan and backrest based on the different contours of study subjects using 3D scan technology. However, translating the 3D scans into a prototype seat also showed that this can only be seen as a first step; additionally biomechanical information and calculations are needed to create ergonomic seats. Furthermore, it is not possible to capture all different human shapes and postures and translate these into one human contour shape that fits all activities and all human sizes.

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BACKGROUND: Passenger comfort is a key variable in user acceptance of transportation systems. The back rest of a seat is of importance part in this experience. In designing a backrest, information of the human contour is useful as the product can be formed following this contour. The question is whether there is too much variation due to variety in tasks or in human anthropometry to design a back rest. OBJECTIVE: The research question is whether anthropometric properties and the performed activity have an influence on the back contour of a person. METHODS: The head, neck and back contour of a human sitting in an aircraft seat are estimated by using a kyphometer. In total 46 subjects are measured in two different chairs, when performing two different activities. RESULTS: This research indicates that the maximum variation of the contours occur on the upper back, neck and head. These parts are more bended forward when using a laptop compared with watching IFE. By dividing the data in groups, based on buttock-top of head distance, the height at which significant differences between the groups occur was determined. For one seat 400 mm above the seat pan a significant difference was found and for the other seat this was 420 mm above the seat pan. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in back contour started to appear above 400 mm vertical distance from the seat pan, which means that the design of a seat should facilitate this variation.

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