Effect of Cabin Tray Table Height on Passengers’ Head and Neck Posture and Perceived Level of Discomfort

doi:10.12068/j.issn.1005-3026.2021.09.014

Abstract

Abstract: To improve the comfort of the cabin space in aircraft， focusing on the difficulty to directly collect anthropometric data of head/neck posture angle， a method is proposed in this paper to obtain the head/neck posture angle indirectly by 3D scanning. A 3D scanning and a perceived level of discomfort(PLD)test are combined with a questionnaire， the results of which show that most passengers think that the current tray table is too low and uncomfortable. When tested with original height(68cm)tray table， the subjects’ head/neck posture angles are all outside the neutral region， indicating that the head/neck posture is excessive flexion. After tray table is raised gradually(73-78-83cm)and the same tests are repeated， the subjects’ HFA and NFA decreased significantly. The HFA and NFA are closer to or reach the neutral range. In PLD tests， with the rise of the tray table， the data first decreases and then rises. It shows that adjusting the tray table in 73~83cm can significantly improve the passengers’ head/neck posture and reduce the discomfort of passengers’ neck.

Key words: comfort; 3D scanning; PLD test; tray table; head/neck posture angle

CLC Number:

TB47

WANG Long， YU Sui-huai， CHEN Deng-kai， CHU Jian-jie. Effect of Cabin Tray Table Height on Passengers’ Head and Neck Posture and Perceived Level of Discomfort[J]. Journal of Northeastern University(Natural Science), 2021, 42(9): 1313-1322.

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