Affiliations: Ergonomic Center, Foxconn Electronic Company, HsinChu, Taiwan | Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taipei, Taiwan | Department of Industrial Design, Chan Guan University, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan
Note: [] Corresponding author: Chien-Hsiou Liu, College of Medicine, Department of Occupational Therapy, No. 510, Zhongzheng Rd., Xinzhuang City, Taipei County 242, Taiwan. Tel.: +886 02 29052090; Fax: +886 02 2904 6743; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Bluetooth earphones can facilitate communications among
workers engaged in manual(e.g., professional driver)or visual tasks (e.g.,
security guard). If workers remove their Bluetooth earphones due to poor fit,
then communication effectiveness will decline, especially during manual or
visual tasks. OBJECTIVES: (1) To identify which design properties of
Bluetooth earphones can contribute to user comfort, and (2) to identify if
person characteristics (i.e., gender and ear shapes in this study) are related
to differences in comfort perception during earphone use. METHODS: 198 participants were recruited for this study.Individuals used four models of
Bluetooth earphones in randomized order while performing computer tasks and
then completed questionnaires on comfort perception specifically designed for
this study. The 2 × 3 × 4 mixed design analysis of variance
(ANOVA) was conducted to investigate the effects of gender, ear shape, and
model condition. Results: The results indicated that there were significant
differences in model on comfort perception. CONCLUSIONS: For earplugs, the shape of the earphone and the elasticity of material are important
ergonomic concerns to improve the comfort perception. In addition, the
adjustable tail length is an important ergonomic design property for the
ear-hook. The information gained in this study should be useful in improving
the ergonomic fitness of Bluetooth earphones.
