In-car countermeasures open window and music revisited on the real road: popular but hardly effective against driver sleepiness.

JOHANNA F. A. SCHWARZ, MICHAEL INGRE, CARINA FORS, ANNA ANUND, GÖRAN KECKLUND, JACQUES TAILLARD, PIERRE PHILIP, TORBJÖRN ÅKERSTEDT
Journal of Sleep Research. 2012-03-28; 21(5): 595-599
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2869.2012.01009.x

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1. J Sleep Res. 2012 Oct;21(5):595-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2869.2012.01009.x. Epub
2012 Mar 28.

In-car countermeasures open window and music revisited on the real road: popular
but hardly effective against driver sleepiness.

Schwarz JF(1), Ingre M, Fors C, Anund A, Kecklund G, Taillard J, Philip P,
Åkerstedt T.

Author information:
(1)The Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.

This study investigated the effects of two very commonly used countermeasures
against driver sleepiness, opening the window and listening to music, on
subjective and physiological sleepiness measures during real road driving. In
total, 24 individuals participated in the study. Sixteen participants received
intermittent 10-min intervals of: (i) open window (2 cm opened); and (ii)
listening to music, during both day and night driving on an open motorway. Both
subjective sleepiness and physiological sleepiness (blink duration) was estimated
to be significantly reduced when subjects listened to music, but the effect was
only minor compared with the pronounced effects of night driving and driving
duration. Open window had no attenuating effect on either sleepiness measure. No
significant long-term effects beyond the actual countermeasure application
intervals occurred, as shown by comparison to the control group (n = 8). Thus,
despite their popularity, opening the window and listening to music cannot be
recommended as sole countermeasures against driver sleepiness.

© 2012 European Sleep Research Society.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2869.2012.01009.x
PMID: 22458959 [Indexed for MEDLINE]

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