Aircraft Passenger Comfort Experience: Subjective Variables and Links to Emotional Responses

RÉSUMÉ : Les buts principaux de cette thèse étaient de connaître les aspects subjectifs de l’expérience de confort du passager en contexte de vol. De tels aspects sont décrits en termes des perceptions subjectives du passager ainsi que de sa réponse émotionnelle aux stimulis de l’environnement. Plusieurs études furent menées afin d’aborder les fondements théoriques de ces aspects ainsi que leur pertinence à l’égard du concept de l’expérience de confort passager en vol. Pour débuter, des descriptions libres d’expérience de vol furent collectées de la part de 155 participants. De l’analyse de leur contenu sont ressortis huit thèmes décrivant les perceptions subjectives de l’intérieur de l’avion en lien avec l’expérience de confort passager : « paix d’esprit », « bien-être physique », « proxémie », « satisfaction », « plaisir », « social », « esthétique » et « association ». Les préoccupations des passagers ainsi que le contexte (siège, espace pour les jambes, température, pression, etc.) associés à chaque thème furent aussi soulignés. Au cours d’une étude de suivi avec un groupe de concepteurs d’intérieur de cabine passager, il fut démontré que les huit thèmes et leurs préoccupations associées pourraient être utilisés afin d’améliorer la communication au sein de l’équipe de conception. De plus, ces thèmes pourraient clarifier la définition des objectifs au cours du processus de conception. Par la suite, la possibilité de distinguer les perceptions subjectives de confort passager des perceptions d’inconfort a été étudiée. 27 participants ont soumis la description d’une expérience de vol confortable ainsi que d’une expérience de vol inconfortable tout en classant par ordre d’importance pour chaque expérience les huit thèmes déterminés dans la première étude. Ces descriptions écrites furent suivies d’entrevues en profondeur. L’analyse n’a donné aucune différence significative entre les classements de thèmes, à part pour ceux de « plaisir » et « bien-être physique ». De surcroît, le thème « plaisir » a obtenu un plus haut classement en lien avec l’expérience de confort alors que le thème « bien-être physique » fut le plus haut classé en lien avec les descriptions d’inconfort. Il fut donc conclu que bien qu’il soit nécessaire d’éliminer les sources d’inconfort physique et d’améliorer les aspects plaisants du vol afin d’atteindre le confort, les huit thèmes s’appliquent autant aux états d’inconfort que de confort. Une autre conclusion suggère que l’évaluation de l’expérience de confort du passager dans son ensemble devrait couvrir le spectre se situant entre l’inconfort extrême et le confort extrême. Les huit thèmes soulevés furent validés par une série d’études. En premier lieu, 161 descripteurs liés à divers aspects de l’expérience de confort passager furent recueillis grâce à études précédentes et une revue de littérature. En outre, les évaluations des participants sur ces descripteurs ont été utilisés pour mettre en évidence les descripteurs les plus pertinents, sélectionnez 58 descripteurs qui étaient plus d'impact sur le confort des passagers, et enfin les classer en huit facteurs qui visiblement correspondaient aux huit thèmes. Finalement, les réponses émotionnelles des passagers au contexte de vol et à l’environnement de la cabine furent recueillies en utilisant la méthode d’échantillonnage d’expérience (ESM: Experience Sampling Method). 16 répondants ont complété un questionnaire évaluant leur niveau de confort ainsi que leurs émotions en trois moments au cours d’un vol long courrier et en deux moments au cours d’un vol court. Ces répondants ont aussi réalisé une évaluation rétrospective de leur confort global ainsi que du confort associé à chacun des huit thèmes 24 et 48 heures suivant le vol. L’analyse n’a révélé aucune différence significative entre les niveaux de confort et les réponses émotionnelles à différents moments au cours du vol. Aussi, l’évaluation au cours du vol et l’évaluation rétrospective du confort n’ont présenté aucune différence significative. L’évaluation globale rétrospective du confort en vol fut corrélée avec tous les huit thèmes pour les vols courts et avec six thèmes pour les vols long-courrier. Les deux thèmes n’ayant pas été associés à ces vols sont « social » et « esthétique ». Toutefois, ceci serait sans doute du au manque de diversité dans l’échantillon de population. Sept émotions furent identifiées comme significatives lors de l’expérience de confort passager : la satisfaction, la frustration, le soulagement, la joie, le reproche, la gratitude et la haine. Elle furent classifiées en cinq groupes, chacun décrivant le mode d’appréciation et d’observation du passager. Ces modes d’appréciation sont la logique employée par les passagers pour l’évaluation des situations de vol, menant aux réponses émotionnelles et ultimement à l’expérience de confort. Cette connaissance met en lumière autant les aspects psychologiques que les aspects perceptifs de l’expérience de confort d’intérieur de cabine passager.----------ABSTRACT : The main goal of this thesis was to create knowledge about the subjective aspects of passenger comfort experience in the flight context. Those aspects are characterized in terms of passengers’ subjective perceptions and their emotional responses to the contextual stimuli. Several studies were performed to address the theoretical underpinning of those aspects and their relevance to the concept of aircraft passenger comfort experience. First, open descriptions of flight experience were collected from 155 participants. A content analysis yielded eight themes signifying passengers’ subjective perceptions of the aircraft interior in relation to their comfort experience. Those were ‘peace of mind’, ‘physical wellbeing’, ‘proxemics’, ‘satisfaction’, ‘pleasure’, ‘social’, ‘aesthetics’, and ‘association’. Passengers’ concerns and the contextual inputs (e.g. seat, legroom, temperature, pressure, etc.) associated with each theme were also highlighted. In a follow up study with a group of aircraft cabin interior designers, it was shown that the eight themes and their subsequent concerns could be potentially used for improving the communication within the design team as well as for setting the goals in the design process. Furthermore, a study examined the possibility of differentiating the subjective themes of passenger comfort from those of discomfort. 27 participants submitted reports of one comfortable and one uncomfortable flight experience and rated the importance of the eight elicited themes for each of those experiences. The written reports were followed by in-depth interviews. The analysis yielded no significant difference between those ratings, except for the themes ‘pleasure’ and ‘physical wellbeing’. In addition, the theme ‘pleasure’ achieved higher ratings in reports of comfort experience while the theme ‘physical wellbeing’ was rated the highest in discomfort reports. It was concluded that while it is necessary to eliminate sources of physical discomfort and improve the pleasurable aspects of the fight experience to achieve comfort, the eight comfort themes generally apply to both states. Another conclusion suggests that the evaluation of overall passenger comfort experience, as a whole, should employ one spectrum ranging from extreme discomfort to extreme comfort. The eight elicited themes were validated in a series of studies. First a set of 161 descriptors, underlying various aspects of passenger comfort experience, was compiled based on above studies as well as literature reviews. Furthermore, participants’ ratings on those descriptors were used to highlight the most relevant descriptors, select 58 descriptors that were most impact on passenger comfort, and finally categorize them into eight factors which visibly corresponded to the eight themes. Finally the emotional responses of passengers to the flight context and the cabin environment were collected using Experience Sampling Method (ESM). 16 respondents submitted 57 completed questionnaires addressing their real-time comfort level and emotions at three times during the long-haul and two times during the short-haul flights. They also rated their overall comfort and the comfort associated with each of the eight themes within the 24 to 48 hours after their flight, accounting for their retrospective evaluation. The analysis revealed no significant differenced between comfort levels or emotional responses at different times during the flights. Moreover, the real-time and retrospective evaluations of comfort were not significantly different. The overall retrospective evaluation of flight comfort correlated with all the eight themes for short flights and six themes for long flights, with an exception of ‘social’ and ‘aesthetics’. However, this was argued to be due to the lack of diversity in the recruited sample. Seven emotions were identified as significant for the experience of passenger comfort: satisfaction, frustration, relief, joy, reproach, gratitude, and hate. Those were classified into five groups, each characterized by a unique appraisal pattern depicting passengers’ concerns and focus. Those appraisal patterns signify the logic employed by passengers for the assessment of the in-flight situation that lead to emotional responses and ultimately comfort experience. This knowledge sheds light on the psychological aspects of passenger comfort experience and the perceptual stimuli in relation to an experience of comfort in the cabin interior

Speculating on biodesign in the future home

The home is a place of shelter, a place for family, and for separation from other parts of life, such as work. Global challenges, the most pressing of which are currently the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change has forced extra roles into many homes and will continue to do so in the future. Biodesign integrates living organisms into designed solutions and can offer opportunities for new kinds of technologies to facilitate a transition to the home of the future. Many families have had to learn to work alongside each other, and technology has mediated a transition from standard models of operation for industries. These are the challenges of the 21st century that mandate careful thinking around interactive systems and innovations that support new ways of living and working at home. In this workshop, we will explore opportunities for biodesign interactive systems in the future home. We will bring together a broad group of researchers in HCI, design, and biosciences to build the biodesign community and discuss speculative design futures. The outcome will generate an understanding of the role of interactive biodesign systems at home, as a place with extended functionalities

Design for ageing-in-place: evidence from Australia

A growing number of the Australian population choose to maintain their independence as they age, referred herein as ageing-in-place. In our study, we seek to clarify a number of factors, derived from the literature in the field, that contribute to ageing-in-place in Australian residential villages. Field observation and in-depth interviews were conducted with eleven participants living in three residential villages in Victoria, Australia. Four factors, namely identity, competence, relatedness and autonomy were found relevant to the well-being of the participants in everyday life. A framework was subsequently proposed for designers to consider when designing future experiences in these types of private dwellings

Aircraft passenger comfort experience: underlying factors and differentiation from discomfort

Previous studies defined passengers' comfort based on their concerns during the flight and a set of eight experiential factors such as 'peace of mind', 'physical wellbeing', 'pleasure', etc. One Objective of this paper was to determine whether the factors underlying the passengers' experience of comfort differ from those of discomfort. Another objective was to cross-validate those factors. In the first study, respondents provided written reports of flight comfort and discomfort experiences separately and gave ratings on the impact of the eight factors on each experience. Follow up interviews were also conducted. Significant difference was found between comfort and discomfort ratings for two factors of 'pleasure', denoted by one's concern for stimulation, ambience and exceeded expectations, and 'physical wellbeing' characterized in terms of bodily support and energy. However, there were no significant differences between the comfort and discomfort ratings on the other six factors. The evidence does not support the proposition that passenger comfort and discomfort are underline by different sets of factors. It is therefore suggested that the evaluation of overall passenger comfort experience, as a whole, employ one spectrum ranging from extreme comfort to discomfort. In study two, a pool of comfort descriptors was collected. Those that were less relevant to passenger comfort were eliminated in a number of steps. Factor analysis was used to classify the remaining descriptors, using respondents' ratings on their potential impact on passenger comfort. Seven factors corresponded to the pre-determined passenger comfort factors from previous research, validating those with an exception of 'proxemics' (concerning one's privacy and control over their situation) but it was argued that this is due to the nature of the factor itself, which is context dependent and generally perceived unconsciously

Exploring the cognitive structure of aircraft passengers' emotions in relation to their comfort experience

Emotion descriptions were elicited from participants' written accounts of their comfort experience and grouped according to the emotion model by Ortony; Clore; and Collins (OCC). The cognitive structure and specific appraisal patterns of passengers were explored on three levels of passenger's concerns (goals; standards; and aspects); their focus during the flight (including the mediating cabin elements) and the resulting emotions. Four emotion groups were highlighted as relevant to flight comfort. Wellbeing (e.g.; joy; distress) emotions were the most frequently mentioned group by participants when focused on the consequences of interaction with cabin features such as seat; IFE and service; pertaining to participants' personal goals (e.g.; security; calmness). The cognitive underpinning of prospect-based (e.g.; satisfied) emotions included similar goals except that participants evaluated the consequences of their interaction with the seat; legroom; IFE and service relevant to their expectations and anticipations. The emotions in wellbeing/attribution compound group were elicited upon evaluating the consequences of the actions of agents (e.g.; service; neighbors). Thus emotions anger and gratitude emerged when those actions yielded pleasing or unpleasing consequences for participants. Attraction (e.g.; liking) emotions were generated once passengers developed liking or disliking for certain aspects (e.g.; aesthetics; physical fitting) of the seat and legroom. Subsequently; a model of cognitive structure of passengers' emotions was constructed for the flight context highlighting the seat and services as the central (most frequently regarded) features to passengers' emotional experiences. The proposed model enables designers to recognize the types of experiences that should be delivered to ensure that passengers feel comfortable