Effects of motorcycle helmet construction on physiological parameters, comfort, and cognitive performance

• Research unit: COST
• Project number: C05.0136

Key words (English)

Motorcycle; helmet; ventilation; heat transfer; comfort

Research programs (English)

COST-Action 357 - Accident Prevention Options with Motorcycle Helmets

Short description (English)

The characterization of motorcycle helmets for effects on the wearer affecting cognitive abilities related to traffic safety. Heat transfer and CO2 retention, thermal manikin and subject studies will be undertaken and correlated with other data.

Partners and International Organizations (English)

BE, BG, CH, DE, ES, FR, GR, IE, IL, IT, NO, PL, PT, TR, UK

Abstract (English)

Wearing a full-face motorcycle helmet is likely to cause a warm microclimate environment, due to its expected high thermal insulation, especially on the scalp. However, it is unclear how such helmets can affect the cognition, i.e. performance (e.g., sustained attention) and the perception (e.g., temperature perception or thermal comfort). Therefore, we studied the following aspects of wearing a full-face motorcycle helmet: i) the external thermal boundary conditions created by these helmets, ii) how diversely motorcycle helmets and their ventilation systems are influencing the temperature perception and thermal comfort, and iii) if wearing a motorcycle helmet can affect cognitive performance. This has results in two published peer-reviewed publications; two additional peer-reviewed publications are currently submitted. The work has been presented at six different international conferences, resulting seven oral presentations. In addition, a Ph.D. student has been awarded with a Ph.D. degree from ETH Zurich from work carried out within this project. Finally, two Master students have worked on parts of this project.

References in databases (English)

Swiss Database: COST-DB of the State Secretariat for Education and Research Hallwylstrasse 4 CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland Tel. [phone] Swiss Project-Number: C05.0136