Departments of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and Biomedical Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287-6921, USA.
J Vestib Res. 2012 Jan 1;22(2):139-44. doi: 10.3233/VES-2011-0434.
Commercial suborbital flights, which include 3-5 minutes of 0 g between hyper-g launch and landing phases, will present suborbital passengers with a challenging sensorimotor experience. Based on the results of neurovestibular research in parabolic and orbital flight, and the anticipated wide range of fitness and experience levels of suborbital passengers, neurovestibular disturbances are likely to be problematic in this environment. Pre-flight adaptation protocols might alleviate some of these issues. Therefore, we describe a set of sensorimotor tests to evaluate passengers before suborbital flight, including assessment of the angular vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR), ocular skew and disconjugate torsion, subjective visual vertical, and roll vection. Performance on these tests can be examined for correlations with in-flight experience, such as motion sickness, disorientation, and visual disturbances, based on questionnaires and cabin video recordings. Through an understanding of sensorimotor adaptation to parabolic and orbital flight, obtained from many previous studies, we can then suggest appropriate pre-flight adaptation procedures.
商业亚轨道飞行包括在超高速发射和着陆阶段之间的 3-5 分钟的 0g，这将为亚轨道乘客带来极具挑战性的感觉运动体验。基于抛物线和轨道飞行中的神经前庭研究结果，以及亚轨道乘客预期的广泛健康状况和经验水平，在这种环境中，神经前庭障碍很可能成为问题。飞行前适应方案可能会缓解其中的一些问题。因此，我们描述了一系列感觉运动测试，以在亚轨道飞行前评估乘客，包括评估角前庭眼反射（VOR）、眼偏斜和非共轭扭转、主观垂直视觉以及滚动错觉。可以根据问卷调查和客舱视频记录，检查这些测试的表现与飞行中经历的相关性，例如晕机、迷失方向和视觉障碍。通过了解从许多先前的研究中获得的抛物线和轨道飞行的感觉运动适应，我们可以建议适当的飞行前适应程序。
