Citation

Pang TY, Lo TST, Ellena T, Mustafa H, Babalija J, Subic A. Appl. Ergon. 2018; 68: 240-248.

Affiliation

Swinburne Research & Development, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.apergo.2017.12.002

PMID

29409640

Abstract

Research has demonstrated that a better-fitted bicycle helmet offers improved protection to the rider during an impact. Nowadays, bicycle helmets in the market that range in size from small/medium to medium/large might not fit the diverse range of human head shapes and dimensions. 3D scanning was used to create 3D head shape databases of 20 participants who volunteered for the study. We developed new custom-fitted helmet inner liners, based on the 3D head shape of two sub-groups of participants, to map their head sizes and contours closely to the conventional Medium (M) and Large (L) sizes as described in from AS/NZS 2512.1: 2009. The new custom-fitted helmet was compared with the helmet available in the market place in a dynamics stability test and from participants' subjective feedback. A significant reduction in the angle of helmet rotation on the headform in the lateral direction was recorded for the custom-fitted helmet. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was conducted to evaluate participants' feedback on the helmets according to different area definitions. The overall fit and comfort and the top region of the new helmet were significantly improved. However, no difference was found at the significant level of 0.05 for the front and rear region of the new helmet.

Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Anthropometry; Fit and comfort; Helmet; Mass customization; Stability