A research group led by Takumi Kagawa and Masashi Kato at Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine has discovered that using “a unique sound stimulation technology”—a device that stimulates the inner ear with a specific wavelength of sound—reduces motion sickness. Even a single minute of stimulation reduced the staggering and discomfort felt by people that read in a moving vehicle. The results, published in Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, suggest a simple and effective way to treat this common disorder.
“Our study demonstrated that short-term stimulation using a unique sound called ‘sound spice®’ alleviates symptoms of motion sickness, such as nausea and dizziness,” Kagawa said. “The effective sound level falls within the range of everyday environmental noise exposure, suggesting that the sound technology is both effective and safe.”
The discovery is an important expansion of recent findings about sound and its effect on
13 Comments
14
Hope this works and VR games start playing it before motion intense parts of the games. I have built up a tolerance for the most part but some games just leave me motion sick if I am not careful.
hengheng
Ah, the calming sound of a power supply humming in the background.
jawns
This is a university press release, so they first refer to a registered trademark, which I assume means they're trying to make money off it through licensing agreements:
> a unique sound called 'sound spice®'
Only at the very bottom of the release do they actually give any technical details:
> a pure tone at 100 Hz
The linked study gives more details:
> 1-min exposure to a pure tone of 80–85 dBZ (= 60.9–65.9 dBA) at 100 Hz
AStonesThrow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_note
lambdaone
So quite literally mains hum, at least in countries with 50 Hz systems, since the magnetostriction effect makes the second harmonic dominant.
phkahler
So piano music with a droning G chord for a minute.
bhaney
Unblinded, tiny sample size (n=10), and a ridiculous attempt to trademark a pure 100Hz tone.
I'm gonna wait for a much better study reproducing this before I put any stock in it, personally.
mcherm
This seems quite promising: an effective treatment for a problem that frequently assails many people, and a treatment which is so simple and easy to apply.
In fact, it seems so promising, that it raises my hackles of suspicion. I would very much like to see other researchers replicate this. I am automatically more skeptical than I would be of most research because if humming a certain note were an effective treatment for motion sickness, then it would be rather surprising that people had not already discovered this property — possibly just by listening to various pieces of music.
Just as research which suggests a surprising outcome or one inconsistent with existing theories must meet a higher bar, so too does research which suggests a simple cure that it was already possible for people to stumble across.
jedimastert
For those not wanting to click through a bunch of links, here is a quote of the results of the study. TL;DR a sine wave of 100Hz at conversation level.
> Results: The effect of short-term (≤5 min) exposure to a pure tone of 80–85 dBZ (= 60.9–65.9 dBA) at 100 Hz on motion sickness was investigated in mice and humans. A mouse study showed a long-lasting (≥120 min) alleviative effect on shaking-mediated exacerbated beam test scores by 5-min exposure to a pure tone of 85 dBZ at 100 Hz, which was ex vivo determined as a sound activating vestibular function, before shaking. Human studies further showed that 1-min exposure to a pure tone of 80–85 dBZ (= 60.9–65.9 dBA) at 100 Hz before shaking improved the increased envelope areas in posturography caused by the shakings of a swing, a driving simulator and a vehicle. Driving simulator-mediated activation of sympathetic nerves assessed by the heart rate variable (HRV) and vehicle-mediated increased scores of the MSAQ were improved by pure tone exposure before the shaking.
dataviz1000
Design motor yacht engines to produce 100hz sound for an extra selling point.
modeless
My friend has pretty extreme motion sickness that prevents us from taking boats or buses or even sometimes taxis when traveling together. It's kind of debilitating and not that uncommon I think. More effort ought to be put into finding a cure. (I'm skeptical of this one, but worth a shot I guess.) Would be nice for VR as well.
bombela
So that's the reason for all those old honda civics cars full of speakers with windows shaking bass!
They are just trying to alleviate motion sickness from those old suspensions.
m3kw9
Who has the mp3 medicine?