Evaluation of a Device to Reduce Motion Sickness and Spatial Disorientation

Graybiel Scale

The Graybiel scale is a commonly used scale for identifying and rating motion sickness symptoms. It was designed to survey multiple dimensions of motion sickness characterized by the degree of 6 representative cardinal symptoms: Nausea and vomiting, skin color, cold sweating, increased salivation, drowsiness, pain and central nervous system symptoms. Each cardinal symptom category is rated by the participant and a corresponding score is calculated. Lesser symptoms are scored with lower point values, 1, 2 or 4 points depending on the severity of that particular symptom with higher scores indicating increased severity. More severe symptoms are scored 8 or 16 points. Values greater than or equal to 16 total points is categorized as frank sickness, 8 to 15 points is severe malaise, 5 to 7 points is moderate malaise A, 3 to 4 points is moderate malaise B, and 1 to 2 points is categorized as slight malaise.

Vitals: Blood pressure

The force of blood pushing against the walls of arteries. Two pressures are measured in mm Hg and are captured via a blood pressure cuff. The systolic pressure in the arteries when the heart contracts and the diastolic pressure in the arteries when the heart relaxes. This is shown numerically with the systolic pressure over the diastolic pressure.

Misery Scale (MISC)

Misery Scale (MISC); an 11-point rating scale used to measure the severity of motion sickness symptoms, ranging from no symptoms at all (0) to severe nausea and vomiting (10), with intermediate levels representing increasing discomfort. It measures how "miserable" one feels due to motion sickness. It provides a detailed progression of symptoms to better understand the severity of motion sickness.

Motion Sickness Assessment Questionnaire (MSAQ)

Motion Sickness Assessment Questionnaire (MSAQ). An instrument that helps assess the experience of motion sickness on a multi-dimensional level. The MSAQ measures four dimensions of motion sickness, gastrointestinal, central, peripheral, and sopite-related (drowsiness, yawning, disengagement). Motion sickness can be a complex set of interacting psychophysiological symptoms that are hard to define. Moreover, one person may experience one symptom to a greater degree than another person, yet both would be experiencing "motion sickness". Additionally, an individual may experience a different feeling of motion sickness depending on the context of what is causing the motion sickness, (boat vs. vehicle vs. visual stimulus) with each potentially eliciting different symptoms. Participants are asked to assess their motion sickness experience by rating 16 statements (ex. I felt sick to my stomach, I felt faint like) from 1-9 with increasing numbers indicating increased severity.

Simulator sickness questionnaire (SSQ)

The Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ), a tool that helps assess the effects of the environment on an individual's health. A set of sixteen symptoms qualified under nausea, oculomotor discomfort, and disorientation categories are rated from one to four from (1 none, 2 slight, 3 moderate, 4 severe). These symptoms include general discomfort, fatigue, headache, eye strain, difficulty focusing, increased salivation, sweating, nausea, difficulty concentrating, fullness of head, blurred vision, dizzy (eyes open), dizzy (eyes closed), vertigo, stomach awareness and burping. Via calculations the answer to each symptom specific severity question results in three representative sub scores, Nausea related, Oculomotor related, and Disorientation related. These are then combined to get an overall simulator sickness severity score. The SSQ was developed in response to motion sickness questionnaires being deficient or irrelevant in measuring simulator sickness.