A solution for kids’ car travel sickness?
They look weird but they work: that applies equally to Citroen cars and the brand’s Seetroen anti-motion-sickness glasses, writes David Linklater.
French brand Citroen reckons it’s cracked the problem of car-motion sickness with something as simple as a pair of glasses.
Motion sickness – or ‘‘kinetosis’’ – affects one in three people some time during their lives.
The ‘‘Seetroen’’ (you can see what they’ve done there) glasses are claimed to be a tested paramedical solution with 95 per cent effectiveness.
The principle behind the glasses comes from the maritime industry, but has been developed for car use by a start-up company in France called Boarding Ring. The white soft-touch plastic frames were designed by 5.5, a collective design studio based in Paris.
The rings that surround the eyes along the frontal axis (right/ left) and sagittal axis (front/back), contain a coloured moving liquid.
The liquid simulates the horizon and resolves the conflict between the senses that causes the sickness.
As soon as initial symptoms of motion sickness are felt, the glasses should be put on.
After 10-12 minutes, the glasses will allow the mind to resynchronise with the movement perceived by the inner ear while the eyes are focused on an immobile object such as a smartphone or a book.
The glasses can then be removed for the remainder of the journey.
They can only be used by adults and children aged 10 or over, as this is when the inner ear has finished growing. There are no lenses in the glasses so they can be shared with others – or worn over prescription glasses.
Citroen New Zealand is working on getting the Seetron product for the local market... but there’s always the internet. In Europe, they are sold for NZ$165.