Journal: Applied Ergonomics

Abbreviation

Appl. Ergon.

Publisher

Elsevier

Journal Volumes

ISSN

0003-6870

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Publications 1 - 10 of 18
  • Occupational sitting behaviour and its relationship with back pain - A pilot study
    Item type: Journal Article
    Lorenzetti, Silvio; Zemp, Roland; Fliesser, Michael; et al. (2016)
    Applied Ergonomics
    Nowadays, working in an office environment is ubiquitous. At the same time, progressively more people suffer from occupational musculoskeletal disorders. Therefore, the aim of this pilot study was to analyse the influence of back pain on sitting behaviour in the office environment. A textile pressure mat (64-sensor-matrix) placed on the seat pan was used to identify the adopted sitting positions of 20 office workers by means of random forest classification. Additionally, two standardised questionnaires (Korff, BPI) were used to assess short and long-term back pain in order to divide the subjects into two groups (with and without back pain). Independent t-test indicated that subjects who registered back pain within the last 24 h showed a clear trend towards a more static sitting behaviour. Therefore, the developed sensor system has successfully been introduced to characterise and compare sitting behaviour of subjects with and without back pain.
  • Effects of viewing distance and age on the performance and symptoms in a visual search task in augmented reality
    Item type: Journal Article
    Huang, Ying-Yin; Menozzi, Marino (2022)
    Applied Ergonomics
    In augmented reality (AR), virtual information is optically combined with the physical environment. In the most frequently used combination technique, optical settings in AR depart from the settings in natural viewing. Depending on the combination of viewing distances of the virtual task and its physical background, this deviation may lower visual performance and cause visual disturbance symptoms. The so-called vergence-accommodation conflict (VAC) has been identified as a cause for the visual disturbance symptoms in AR. In this study, for various distance combinations, the performance and symptoms when performing a search task displayed in a see-through head-mounted display (AR HMD, HoloLens 1st generation, Microsoft, USA) was investigated. The search task was displayed at a virtual distance of either 200 cm or 30 cm, and the real background was viewed either at a distance of 200 cm or 30 cm. Three combinations of viewing distances for the background and the virtual task were studied: 200 cm/200 cm, 200 cm/30 cm, and 30 cm/30 cm. Results revealed that both performance and visual disturbance symptoms depend on the combination of the viewing distances of the physical background and the virtual task. When the physical background was viewed at a distance of 200 cm, younger participants showed a significantly better search performance and reported stronger symptoms compared with older participants, no matter whether the virtual task was performed at 30 cm or at 200 cm. However, with the physical background at a distance of 30 cm, the performance of the younger group dropped to the level of the performance of the older group, and younger participants tended to report a stronger increase in visual disturbance symptoms compared with the older participants. From the AR HMD technology used in this study, it can be concluded that a near viewing distance of the virtual task does not cause a negative impact on performance and visual disturbance symptoms, provided any physical background seen through the AR HMD is not at a near viewing distance. The findings indicate that the VAC, which persists in augmented and virtual reality, depends, in addition to the physical component evaluating the optical distance, on a cognitive component evaluating the perceived distance. AR settings should therefore also be evaluated in terms of possible effects on perceived distance.
  • Are pressure measurements effective in the assessment of office chair comfort/discomfort? A review
    Item type: Journal Article
    Zemp, Roland; Taylor, William R.; Lorenzetti, Silvio (2015)
    Applied Ergonomics
  • Evaluation of the support provided by a soft passive exoskeleton in individuals with back pain
    Item type: Journal Article
    Luder, Tobias; Meier, Michael; Neuweiler, Rea; et al. (2025)
    Applied Ergonomics
    Physically straining occupations involving repetitive lifting and forward leaning increase risk of back pain. In response, back exoskeletons have been developed to alleviate strain on back muscles and potentially prevent such pain. In people experiencing back pain, these may also help decrease the pain-related activity limitations during work or leisure. This experimental study evaluated the effects of a soft passive back exoskeleton on muscle activity, acute pain, kinesiophobia, and movement kinematics. Individuals experiencing mild to moderate back pain (n = 35) performed forward leaning and lifting tasks, both with and without the support of the back exoskeleton. Electromyography data were collected for trunk and hip muscles, alongside hip and spine kinematics, reported pain levels and concerns regarding daily activities. Back exoskeleton support reduced back muscle activity during forward leaning by up to 35% (pExo < 0.001) and during lifting tasks by up to 24% (pExo < 0.001). Participants reported reduced lumbar pain (p < 0.01) and decreased kinesiophobia (p < 0.001) across all tasks when supported by the exoskeleton. Minimal influence on movement kinematics was observed and there were no observable changes in abdominal co-activation compared to tasks performed without exoskeleton support. These results indicate that the LiftSuit, a passive back exoskeleton, can effectively reduce back muscle activity, acute pain, and kinesiophobia among individuals with back pain during forward leaning and repetitive lifting tasks. These findings suggest that passive back exoskeletons may be beneficial during physically demanding tasks in workers experiencing mild to moderate back pain.
  • Quantification of long cane usage characteristics with the constant contact technique
    Item type: Journal Article
    Kim, Y.; Moncada-Torres, Arturo; Furrer, J.; et al. (2016)
    Applied Ergonomics
  • The influence of packaging on consumers’ risk perception of chemical household products
    Item type: Journal Article
    Buchmüller, Kim; Bearth, Angela; Siegrist, Michael (2022)
    Applied Ergonomics
    Chemical household products are found in most households. If consumers are to safely handle such products, they need to be aware of the risks posed by the particular product they are using. Although most countries require that chemical household products feature warning labels (e.g. the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals), consumers appear to also use other cues to determine the risks associated with a specific product. Thus, we studied the influence of packaging on consumers' risk perception of chemical household products. More specifically, we examined the effect of the colour of the packaging (black or pink packaging versus the original packaging) as well as the presence of images of flowers or food-imitating elements on the packaging. Significant differences with regard to consumer's risk perception were found in terms of all four studied manipulations. Therefore, we conclude that consumers' risk perception can be influenced by the packaging design. In particular, if elements that lower consumer's risk perception (e.g. featuring flowers on the label and food-imitating elements on the packaging) are omitted from the packaging, consumers might be able to more accurately judge the risks associated with a product and so take appropriate safety precautions.
  • Low back pain and its relationship with sitting behaviour among sedentary office workers
    Item type: Journal Article
    Bontrup, Carolin; Taylor, William R.; Fliesser, Michael; et al. (2019)
    Applied Ergonomics
    The relationships between sedentary lifestyle, sitting behaviour, and low back pain (LBP) remain controversial. In this study, we investigated the relationship between back pain and occupational sitting habits in 64 call-centre employees. A textile pressure mat was used to evaluate and parameterise sitting behaviour over a total of 400 h, while pain questionnaires evaluated acute and chronic LBP. Seventy-five percent of the participants reported some level of either chronic or acute back pain. Individuals with chronic LBP demonstrated a possible trend (t-test not significant) towards more static sitting behaviour compared to their pain-free counterparts. Furthermore, a greater association was found between sitting behaviour and chronic LBP than for acute pain/disability, which is plausibly due to a greater awareness of pain-free sitting positions in individuals with chronic pain compared to those affected by acute pain.
  • Display clutter and its effects on visual attention distribution and financial risk judgment
    Item type: Journal Article
    Ognjanovic, Svetlana; Thüring, Manfred; Murphy, Ryan O.; et al. (2019)
    Applied Ergonomics
    Display clutter is a widely studied phenomenon in ergonomics, where information density and other properties of task-relevant visualizations are related to effective user performance and visual attention. This paper examines the impact of clutter in the context of financial stock visualizations. Depending on their expertise, traders can use a variety of different cues to judge the current and future value of a stock and to assess its riskiness. In our study, two groups of participants (novices and experts) judge the riskiness of 28 pairs of stocks under two clutter conditions (low and high). Consistency of judgments and group concordance serve as measures for judgment performance, while mean fixation duration, fixation frequency, and transition matrix density are employed to capture visual attention. Our results reveal significant effects of display clutter and expertise on both the performance measures as well as the visual attention measures.
  • Physical workload, trapezius muscle activity, and neck pain in nurses' night and day shifts
    Item type: Journal Article
    Nicoletti, Corinne; Spengler, Christina M.; Läubli, Thomas (2014)
    Applied Ergonomics
  • Heat loss variations of full-face motorcycle helmets
    Item type: Journal Article
    Bogerd, C. R.; Bruehwiler, P. A. (2009)
    Applied Ergonomics
Publications 1 - 10 of 18