A Wearable Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation Device With Adaptive Motion Sickness Risk Prediction and Symptoms Alleviation

Motion sickness (MS) could be significantly increased by the growing deployment of autonomous vehicles and new energy automobiles. Hence, there is a pressing need in the field of autonomous driving for a rapid, low side effect solution to mitigate MS symptoms. This study developed and validated a novel wearable Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (GVS) device capable of predicting the risk of MS incidence and alleviating MS symptoms. A revised Motion Sickness Index (MSI) was also proposed to individualize the MS risk in different scenes. The effectiveness of the device was demonstrated through subjective and objective experimental data, including significantly increased endurance time with an average level of 40%, improved tolerance of MSI over 42%, no reduction of pupil diameter and less gaze dispersion. In summary, both positive physiological indicators and subjective ratings all suggested remarkable advantages of the device in enhancing participants’ MS tolerance level. Potential applications of the device can be further investigated in multiple scenarios, such as long journey driving, pilots training.