Human motion sickness susceptibility when exposed to Coriolis accelerations during parabolic flight weightlessnes

Graybiel, A.

Kellogg, R. S.

Kennedy, R. S.

English

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MOTION SICKNESS PRECIPITATED IN THE WEIGHTLESS PHASE OF 
PARABOLIC FLIGHT BY CORIOLIS ACCELERATIONS* 
Ashton Graybiel , Robert S. Kennedy, and Robert S. Kel logg 
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery 
MR005.04-021.161 
NASA Order R-93 
Released by 
Captain J. W. Weaver, MC USN 
Commanding Officer 
18 February 1969 
"This research was conducted under the sponsorship of the Office of Advanced Research 
and Technology, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Order R-93, and in 
cooperation with the 6570th Aerospace Medical Research Laboratories, Wright-Patterson 
Air Force Base, Ohio. 
NAVAL AEROSPACE MEDICAL INSTITUTE 
NAVAL AEROSPACE MEDICAL CENTER 
PENSACOIA, FLORIDA 32512 
SUMMARY PAGE 
THE PROBLEM 
The purpose of the present study was to demonstrate the susceptibility of human 
subjects to motion sickness when exposed to Coriolis accelerations in the weightless 
phase of parabolic flight. To accomplish this purpose fwo major require 
be m e t .  First, the stimulus, Cor accelerations, had to be confined 
c flight maneuv I and, second, i t  
include subjects with a history of unsusceptibility motion sickness i 
eriod of weightlessness in a pa 
FINDINGS 
al persons and three 
periods of weightless 
fating in a B&&y 
except three experie 
basis of insusceptibility to symptoms in standard 
other seven were motion sick and completed on the avem 
hree subjects selected primarily o n  the basis of low susce 
eration in a slow rotation room were symptom free, and one 
level of symptoms did not reach the end 
In addition to demonstrating susceptibili 
acceleration in the weightless phase of pa 
emphasizing the difficulty in predicting susceptibility to motion sickness in novel force 
environments. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
We are indebted to all the subjects and to the assistants at Wright-Pattenon Air 
Force Base for their cooperation in the study. 
.. 
I I  
INTRODUCTION 
experiment dealing with motion 
ral labyrinthine defects (L-D subi 
ness in parabolic flight (9) six 
and nineteen naive noma1 
cted on the basis of susceptibility to motion sickness were the pariici- 
L-D subjects completed the "required" 40 parabolas without experiencing 
Five of the normal subjects failed to complete the 40 
e remaining fourieen were symptom free. The obvious 
conclusion was 
tively conclud 
lic flight is an  effective stressor, and it was tenta- 
r in precipitating symp 
a " The problem has been reviewed by a number of 
much change in that opinion. 
strate the susceptibility of human 
accelerations in  the weightless 
c flight. To accomplish this purpose fwo major requirements had 
e stimulus, Coriolis accelerations, had to be confined to the bri 
riod of weightlessness in a parabolic flight maneuver, and, second, it was essential 
with a history of unsusceptibility to motion sickness in standard 
PROCEDURE 
SUBJECTS AND THEIR EVALUATION 
Three L-D subjects and twenty-one normal persons participated. AI1 subjects 
were in good health and all had m e t  the medical and operational requirements for 
participation in  zero-g flights. The L-D subjects, 22 to 27 years of age, had acquired 
their defects as  a consequence of meningitis at an early age. The twenfy-one normal 
subjects, twenty men and one woman (subject number 19, ranged in age  from 19 
years. Three of them were selected because of low susceptibility to symptoms when ex- 
sed to Coriolis accelerations in the slow rotation room (SRR), while eight were se- 
lected because of unsusceptibility to symptoms during standard parabolic flights. All 
fwenty-one had normal hearing except one who, unaccountably, demonsfrated in the 
audiogram a very slight "conductive loss" in the range of MOO cps. 
caloric test" (1 1) was CQ ucted in thirteen, and all values were wi 
range. Ocular counte ing (12) was tested in six and the values were normal. 
DEVICES 
The flights were made in a jet aircraft (KC-135) specificially modified and 
staffed for experimentation under conditions of weightlessness (3). A lypical maneuver, 
termed a parabola, consisted of a shallow dive followed by a pull-up generating 
approximately 2.0 g and a push-over into a ballistic trajectory with a period a f  near- 
weightlessness lasting 24 to 28 seconds; recovery involved a pull-out generating about 
1 
2.0 g followed by level flight. Unless interrupted, a flight sequence consisted of 20 to 
40 parabolas. 
Mounted in the cabin was a mobrdriven B6rdny chair modified for use in  the 
KC-135. The subject was restrained in the chair by shoulder harness and seat belt. 
The experimental area was shielded from the cabin lights by means of curtains. Facili- 
ties were available for voice communication between experimenter and pilot. 
THE CORIOLIS ACCELERATIONS 
With the subject seated on the chair Coriolis accelerations were generated by 
his active head motions while the chair rotated at 30 rpm. These head motions were 
made in  the frontal and saggital planes at a rate of about one every two seconds; a 
"motion" consisted of a rotation away from and return to the upright. The head rotated 
about 450 right and left, somewhat further forward, and somewhat less backward. These 
accelerations constitute a bizarre stimulus pattern to the semicircular canals similar to, 
if not identical with, that generated in a ground-based laboratory. 
The otolith organs were also stimulated in  a bizarre manner while the subject 
rotated at  30 rprn in  weightlessness. With head upright, the centripetal force was 
approximately 0.05-g unit directed horizontally but in  opposite sense to the two organs. 
If the center of the head was displaced 6 inches leftward or righfward from the center of 
rotation at  the extreme flexed position, the vectors representing forces acting on the 
two labyrinths at different radii would have the same sense, but different magnitudes, 
approximately 0.1-g and 0.2-9 unit, respectively. On moving the head forward and 
backward the iwo labyrinths would be equally distant from the center of rotation. At  
uniform velocity between the upright and flexed position the direction of the Coriolis 
acceleration vector would be normal to the directions of the other fwo vecbrs,and the 
magnitude approximately 0.04-g unit. 
METHOD 
The general procedure was to expose each subject to Coriolis accelerations during 
the weightless period in ten successive parabolas unless the endpoint ''severe malaise" 
supervened. This meant taking along the number of subjects necessirry for testing during 
a complete flight sequence of 20 to 40 parabolas. There was considerable opportunity 
to observe the effects of parabolic flight both before and after exposure to Coriolis 
accelerations. During flight, when the signal was received that zero-g condition pre- 
vailed, the chair was set i n  rotation at 30 rpm and the subject, with eyes open, began 
the head movements. This was continued until the signal was given that the weightless 
period was about b end. The number of head movements were not COUnted, but around 
ten were made at  30 rpm and a few at slower velocities during each parabola. 
The severity of motion sickness was graded according to diagnostic criteria de- 
scribed elsewhere in  detail, (5): slight, moderate, or severe malaise (M l to I l l ) ,  frank 
sickness (s), and vomiting 0. 
2 
Between parabolas the experimenter took the opportunity to observe the subject 
under lighted conditions and, following termination of the flight, both experimenter 
and subject filled stionnaires designed catalogue and quantify the subjective 
and objective sym logy 
RESULTS 
en normal subjects, three experi- 
enced nausea and vomiting, two were frankly sick, and one had severe and one 
moderate malaise. 
None of the three L-D subjects expertenced motion sickness and two enjoyed he 
hk,  i-aking eve 
eriincing a gas 
rtunify to go aboard. The third, a t  the time o 
tinal disturbance, and i t  i s  noteworthy that al 
y" on pu~~-ou t s  and, later, was "faint" when blood was drawn, he did 
not experience motion sickness. 
DISCUSS ION 
The vestibular organs are  affected quite differently in weightlessness. A t  rest 
there i s  physiological deafferentation of the otolith apparatus, but there is no corre- 
sponding effect o n  the semicircular canals. There is some evidence that lifting the 
gravitational stimulus to the otolith receptors would leave h e m  with a resting dis- 
charge (6), and presumably receptors in the canals would not lose their spontaneous 
activity. With natural movements of the body (head) the angular accelerations gen- 
erated would provide a stimulus to the canals much he same  as  under terrestrial con- 
ditions, but the transient linear accelerations might or might not constitute a n  adequate 
stimulus to the otolith apparatus, and, if adequate, the information would not be use- 
ful for orientation to the upright. 
3 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
31 
25 
26 
31 
22 
30 
22 
38 
46 
26 
19 
26 
19 
28 
34 
32 
27 
34 
29 
25 
38 
26 
23 
23 
Aviator 
M. D. 
Civ . 
Capt. USAF 
Civ . 
Aviator 
Lt. USAF 
Aviator 
Sgt. USAF 
Lt. USAF 
Enl. USN + 
Enl. USN + 
Enl. USN' 
Aviator 
Capt. USAF 
Aviator 
Lt. USN 
Aviator 
Lt. USN 
Aviator 
Copt. USAF 
Civ.* 
Civ.* 
Civ.* 
Table 1 
Vital Statistics and Summary of Findings in 24 Subjects 
& - 
History of Motion Sickness Susceptibility to Coriolis Acceleration in g-Zero 
Subjeck Aircraft Standard Parabolic Flight Phase of Parabolic Flight 
No. of Parob. Severity of Motion Sickness** No. Age Work Status Exporure MA Exporure M/S 
t 
>Ad. 
Ad. 
>Ad. 
>Ad. 
>Ad. 
>Ad. 
A d .  
>Ad. 
>Ad. 
>Ad. 
>Ad. 
>Ad. 
'Ad. 
>Ad. 
Ad. 
>Ad. 
>Ad. 
>Ad. 
Ad. 
>Ad. 
Ad. 
>Ad. 
*. 
A d .  
occ  . 
occ  . 
Never 
occ  . 
Never 
Never 
occ . 
Twice 
Rarely 
Only 
acrobat. 
Twice 
Rare 
Never 
Rarely 
occ  . 
Never 
Many times 
in turb. 
occ . 
occ . 
Rare 
Once 
Never 
Never 
Never 
0 
Ad. 
>Ad. 
>Ad. 
>Ad. 
>Ad. 
>Ad. 
>Ad. 
>Ad. 
>Ad. 
Ad. 
Ad. 
Ad. 
<Ad. 
a d .  
4. 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Ad. 
Ad. 
occ  . 
Once 
1st FI. 
Rarely 
Twice 
1st FI. 
Never 
Only during 
gymnastics 
Once 
Never 
M I1  1st FI. 
Never 
Never 
Never 
0 
0 
10 s 01) 
3 s 01) 
10 M II 
6 M 111 
10 Nil 
4 s 01) 
5 S 
5 S 
10 Nil 
10 M II 
7 Nil 
4 s 01) 
1 s W) 
Never 1st trial 4 
2nd vial 10 
10 
1 
4 
2 
3 
10 
Never 10 
Never 10 
s 01) 
Nil 
M I1 
s 01) 
M Ill 
S 
S 
Ni I 
Nil; dizzy on 
Ni I 
pu I I-w t 
*Adequatm; >Ad.; <Ad. 
** S - frank motion sick; V vomit. 
M -Malaise I slight I1 moderate 111 severe 
+ Slow Rotation Roam 
* Bilateral loss lobyrinthinefunction. 
4 
In the present experiment the Coriolis accelerations generated while the subject 
was rotating at 30 rpm constituted a sfrong unusual stimulus to the semicircular camls, 
similar if not identical to that generated by the same rotations in the laboratory. O n  
the other hand, the forces acting on the otolith apparatus were dramatically different 
from those acting in the presence of gravity. Under terrestrial conditions the inertial 
forces would-sum with gravity and, while contin 
do so within a maximal change in angle o 
h the maximal linear forces are reduced 
y modifying the resultant vec 
proximately 19. In weightlessness, 
gnitude by abou 
but also the pat only i s  this more than a thousandfold above th 
bizarre and meaningless in terms of a normal 
ing was far less but the pattern more unusual than on Earth. 
Although this limited experimental probe did not offer much of an o p  
liths in  causing motion s evaluate the individual ID es of the canak and o 
salient fact  stands out that the L-D subiects, as expected, did not experience symptoms 
while the majority of the normal subjecis were sick. If one excludes the three subjects 
selected on the basis of low susceptibility to Coriolis accelerations in the SRR, then 
only one normal person (subject 7) was symptom free, and another (subject 16) had 
symptoms when ill but not after recovery. 
The findings in this experiment have limited relevance fo the stressful acce 
tions which might be genefated in a s cecraft rotating at low velocities. It was 
clearly demonstrated, however, that familiarity with and insusceptibility to motion 
sickness in standard parabolic flight were not important determinants in predicting 
whether a person would experience symptoms when exposed to Coriolis accelerations. 
O n  the other hand, there was an indication that susceptibility to symptoms in the SRR 
correlated with susceptibility in the Ba'ra'ny chair under the conditions of this experi- 
ment. 
5 
ings 
__I- 
and Breach, Science Publishers, Inc. f 1967. Pp. !57-64. 
ed 
ar 
ammer, L. R. 
. F. I i ,  and Cramer, D. B. , Diag 
Med. , 39: - -  
453-455, 1968. 
of the changes provoked by ze 
f the Experimenkr's In- 
in Bioscience, 22-23 
Space Adminis 
v, E. M., Gorshkov, A. 1. , Kasian, 1. I., Brianov, 1. 1 .  , Kolosov, I .  A. , 
Kopanev, V. 1. , Lebedev, V. 1. , Po 
fibular reactions o# cosmonauts during 
Med., 37:691-694, 1966. 
, F. A., Ves- 
' spaceship. 
_ _ _ . _ _ -  
8. Kas'yan, 1. I., Kobsov, I .  A., Lebedev, V. I., andYurov, B. N., Reactionsof 
cosmonauts during parabolic flight in aircraft. Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Series B, 
No. 2, 1965. Pp. 169-181. Translation. 
---_I -- 
9. Kellogg, R. S., Kennedy, R. S., and Graybiel , A., Motion sickness sympiom- 
ablogy of labyrinthine defective and normal subjects during zero gravity maneu- 
vers. Aerospace - -  Med., 36:315-318, 1965. 
6 
10. Komendanbv, G. L., and Kopanev, V. 1. Motion sickness as a problem of space 
medicine. In: Sisakyan, N. M., and Yazdovskiy, V. 1. (Eds.), Problemsof -
Space BioloG. Vol. 2. JPRS TT18, 395. Washingbn, D. C.: Joint Publi- 
cations Research Service, U. S. Deparfmentof Commerce, 1963. Pp. 84-99. 
11. McLeod, M. E. I and Meek, J.  C., A threshold caloric test: Results in normal 
subjects. NSAM-834. NASA R-47. Pensacola, Fla.: Naval School of 
Aviation Medicine, 1962. 
human eyes produced by b a d  tilt with 
Stockh . & 54:479-50 1 1962 
13. Vasil'yev, P. V., and Volynkin, Yu. K., Some resu is of medical investigations 
carried out during the flight of skhod. NASA TT F-9423. Washington, 
D. C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1965. 
7 
Unclassified 
Pensacola, Florida 32512 
CORIOLIS ACCELERATIONS 
7a. T O T A L  NO OF P A G E S  ? b . N O  O F  REFS 6 R E P O R T  D A T E  
18 February 1969 8 13 
8a. C O N T R A C T  O R  G R A N T  N O  9e. 0 R I G I N A T O R . S  R E P O R T  N U M B E R I S )  
NASA Order R-93 
MR005.04-002 1 
b .  P R O J E C T  N O  NAMI-1061 
96.  O T H E R  R E P O R T  N O ( 5 I  (Any other numbers f h e t  may b e  a s s i g n e d  C.  
t h i s  report) 
d .  161 
10 D I S T R I B U T I O N  S T A T E M E N T  
This document has been approved for public release and sale; i ts distribution i s  unlimited. 
1 1  S U P P L E M E N T A R Y  N O T E S  12. SPONSORING M I L I T A R Y  A C T I V I T Y  
Study sponsored by NASA in  cooperation with 
tory 
the 6570th Aerospace Medical Research Labora- N/A 
13 A B S T R A C T  
Nineteen normal persons and three deaf subjects with bilateral loss of labyrinthine function 
(L-D subiects) were exposed to Coriolis accelerations during the brief periods of weightlessness 
in parabolic flight by having them move their heads while rotating in a Bt%ny chair at 30 rpm. 
None of the L-D but all of  the normal subjects except three experienced motion sickness: Only 
one of eight subjects selected on the bas is  of insusceptibility to symptoms in standard parabolic 
flights was free of symptoms; the other seven were motion sick and completed on the average only 
six parabolas. Two of three subjects selected primarily on the basis of low susceptibiliiy to 
Coriolis acceleration in a slow rotation mom were symptom free, and one was motion sick but 
his level of symptoms did not reach the end point of severe malaise during ten parabolas. In 
addition to demonstrating susceptibility to motion sickness when exposed to Coriolis acceleration 
in the weightless phase of parabolic flight, the findings are important in emphasizing the difficulb 
i n  predicting susceptibility to tion sickness in novel force environments. 
Securitv Classification 
Unclassified 
Motion sickness susceptibilify 
Coriolis accelerations in weightlessness 
Weightless periods in parabolic flight 
Vestibular apparatus factors 
Space flight factors 
FORM DD t N O V 6 5 1 4 7 3  (BACK)  
L t h  
R O L E  
--
A 
W T  
L t h  
R O L E  
II 
e 
W T  
Unclassified 
L IN 
? O L E  
(PAGE 2)  Security Classification 


Motion sickness precipitated in the weightless phase of parabolic flight by Coriolis accelerations

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