Ever felt mildly sick on a long road trip? To distract yourself from the problem, you start watching a movie on the iPad or a video on the phone, but it only gets worse? Well, that’s because your brain gets signals from the cochlea in your ear that you’re in a vehicle accelerating forwards (or moving side to side as the car switches lanes or rides on bumps), but your eyes capture a phone or tablet screen, which isn’t moving relative to your body. This dissonance causes your brain to feel sick, as your eyes and ears present two different experiences.
Citroën’s SEETROËN (clever name alert) is quite an ingenious device designed to help create a balance between those experiences, so your brain doesn’t get confused. The quirky looking glasses (designed to be worn only while traveling) come with four rings on the front and side with a liquid suspended in them. When in a moving vehicle, the liquid moves around too (working a lot like the cochlea does), giving the brain a visual stimulus that helps it understand the way you’re moving. When the car moves from left to right, the liquid in the ring does too, informing your brain of the movement as you watch movies on a screen or read a book. The rings stay on the boundaries of your vision, allowing you to see normally, while the liquid rings on the periphery don’t obstruct your vision, they just help your brain synchronize itself, reducing 95% of your motion sickness in as fast as 10 minutes!
Designer: Studio 5.5 for Citroën
