
Bizarre Glasses Promise to Cure Motion Sickness - curtis
https://gizmodo.com/these-bizarre-glasses-promise-to-cure-your-motion-sickn-1827479936
======
joshe
Even at $100 these would be very worth it to me. Can't read in cars, and can't
ride in ocean boats in any kind of swell. Twisty mountain roads as a passenger
are bad. I even get a little nauseous on city busses. Barfing doesn't look
cool, so the dork factor is an easy price to pay.

The concept makes sense, unlike copper/magnet bracelets.

Dramamine doesn't help me. The "Relief Band" that shocks the wrist does help
with stomach nausea, but not the head wooziness
([https://www.reliefband.com/](https://www.reliefband.com/)). Also no food,
ginger, or small amounts of carbs doesn't help. Looking at the horizon helps a
little.

Looks like they are on preorder, shipping in December 2018:

[https://www.boardingglasses.com/](https://www.boardingglasses.com/)

Excited to see real reviews.

~~~
mkingston
I get pretty bad motion sickness. Which is not wonderful when diving. Hyoscine
works for me. The worst I've felt when I've had hyoscine has been mild nausea,
even in awful conditions. I use the behind-ear patches, sold as transderm
scopolamine (IIRC).

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyoscine](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyoscine)

~~~
hcrisp
Scopolamine, as in the truth serum? Do you notice any increased tendency to
blab secrets when taking it? It would be amusing to travel with you.

~~~
jdhawk
My SO takes it when we're on boats, and she definitely feels - different. I
haven't noticed her blabbing secrets, but I'll ask some better questions next
time. :)

------
pgreenwood
A similar idea appeared over 20 years ago as joke. More specifically as a
Chindogu, the comical Japanese artform of creating almost but not quite useful
inventions to solve everyday problems.

[http://www.asiaone.com/static/multimedia/gallery/120706_japi...](http://www.asiaone.com/static/multimedia/gallery/120706_japinventions/pic38.html)

~~~
boobsbr
I remember seeing a few clips about Chindogu as a child: the ones I recall
most are the motorized fork for spaghetti (just causes a mess because you
can't turn it off), and the solar-powered flashlight (of course, without any
kind of rechargeable batteries).

~~~
RugnirViking
Trying to rotate your head at the right speed to snatch the spaghetti off a
spinning fork sounds like a fun challenge

------
mchahn
At least this will work better than the copper bracelets tons of people wear
on cruises. I couldn't convince my daughters they were b.s. But maybe I
shouldn't interfere with the placebo effect.

Speaking of placebos, I wonder how these glasses compare to placebos.

~~~
drfuchs
Copper bracelets for sea-sickness? When I was a kid, the scam was that they
cured arthritis.

~~~
arwineap
The scam is w/e they tell you to get you to buy it :)

------
BoppreH
How about using your smartphone's gyroscope to show the artifical horizon on
the screen itself? For example using [https://richtr.github.io/Artificial-
Horizon/](https://richtr.github.io/Artificial-Horizon/) as background for
text.

If somebody that experiences motion sickness wants to test it, I can help
coding a prototype.

~~~
Bromskloss
The phone aims to show the real horizon, not the changes in perceived gravity
due to a swaying vehicle. I wonder if the difference is important. (A special-
purpose app might behave differently, though.)

~~~
LanceH
That's just it, the real horizon will appear to move even though it's the
vehicle moving. People tend not to get seasick/motion sick when they can see
the outside apparently swaying because that coincides to the bumps they feel.
It's when they are entirely inside or focused on on something that isn't
moving relative to themselves that there is a difference between feel and
vision.

While I don't get seasick at all, I'll add this in so that someone might try
it. I noticed that on a rocking boat people stand two different ways. Most
people will move their feet apart and assume a rigid stance so their head is
always up relative to the boat. Others will keep both feet together and stay
upright relative to gravity, seemingly tilting back and forth in rhythm with
the ship. I suspect the second might help with motion sickness since you would
see the boat move like you feel that it should. It always struck me as funny
to have some of both types in the same group having a conversation.

~~~
Bromskloss
Hmm, I thought the problem was that the acceleration of the car (for example
sideways acceleration when going through a bend) was perceived as a sideways
component of gravity – as the principle of general relativity tells us, they
are the same thing – without there being a corresponding visual input, even
when looking outside. In contrast to something that replicates the actual
horizon, the blue liquid in these glasses would feel and adapt to the same
sideways acceleration as your body feels, so I thought that was the point.

------
ramses0
Please somebody with a VR rig try simulating this.

Previously there were reports that an "artificial nose" in VR setups reduced
motion sickness [sources needed...], perhaps having an artificial horizon-ish-
thing (Han Solo's lucky dice?) bobbing around in periphery would have the same
effect?

It seems like this would have a transferrable benefit to a similar problem.

~~~
ralfd
Bobbing dices won't work. Think about it: VR sickness comes from the mismatch
of your body _not_ moving, while the visuals show you moving around.

Car sickness comes from your body moving (detected by your inner ear), but if
you are not looking out of the window your visuals (reading a book, looking at
the phone) show you stationary.

------
rootusrootus
I do get motion sickness in cars in the traditional way, so I am willing to
give these a try, but I would like a solution (other than dramamine, which
works wonderfully but makes me drowsy) to motion sickness caused without any
motion at all. Such as playing a 3D game.

------
Sir_Cmpwn
Given the simplicity of the mechanism described, I wonder if you could make
something similar yourself and skip the hefty price tag.

~~~
giarc
[https://www.amazon.com/Westminster-PT7327-Silly-
Straws-0084/...](https://www.amazon.com/Westminster-PT7327-Silly-
Straws-0084/dp/B001JP9I5I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1531272656&sr=8-2&keywords=straw+glasses)

Fill with coloured water and seal the ends!

~~~
krzat
Looks like some patent got violated.

------
CamelCaseName
At $180 CAD, these are too expensive to preorder for my friend without much in
the way of reviews.

Does anyone know where I can look for unbiased reviews for this 12-16 months
down the line?

------
Bromskloss
Summary of how it works:

> The Seetroën glasses have four liquid-filled rings [which you look through]
> that, thanks to gravity, simulate the angle and movements of the horizon so
> that the motions of the blue-dyed liquids seen by the wearer’s eyes match
> what their inner ear is detecting.

------
remote_phone
Does this work for sea sickness as well? It would be awesome if so because I’m
so scared to take a boat after a particularly bad and embarassing boat trip
where I suddenly puked from it.

------
klondike_
The price is pretty absurd. I was expecting this to be in the range of $15,
not $115. You could buy several years worth of dramamine for that price and
won't look goofy at the same time

~~~
kalleboo
Give it a month or two and hopefully you'll find clones on aliexpress for $5

------
slantyyz
I wonder if these can be worn over prescription or reading glasses, as they
seem to be close fitting.

They wouldn't be very helpful for people who can't see anything while wearing
them.

------
nkkollaw
Why does the author have this horrible tone throughout the whole article?

He talks like the glasses are joke and focuses on the fact that--God forbid--
they don't have a good design according to him, but if they work they're a
fantastic product!

My girlfriend cannot read more than a couple of sentences before getting sick
while I'm driving, and I would care many times less about the glasses' look or
the cost than her not felling sick.

Journalism is really going downhill.

~~~
ectospheno
Not everyone experiences motion sickness. It can be difficult for those of us
who don't to properly empathize with those who do. For someone who doesn't
experience motion sickness or only experiences it in extreme situations then
the products appearance is a big negative.

~~~
nkkollaw
Are you being serious? A cast looks pretty ridiculous, but if your arm is
broken you wear it.

I don't experience motion sickness, but if my girlfriend wore those I wouldn't
start making fun of her because even though she's not sick anymore she looks
weird!

------
beaugunderson
Looks like the next shipment for Citroen's version is September, if you don't
want to wait for December for the Boarding Glasses version (I'm not sure how
they differ):

[https://lifestyle.citroen.com/en/shop/_/pr4619/lunettes-
seet...](https://lifestyle.citroen.com/en/shop/_/pr4619/lunettes-seetroen-
inspired-by-you)

------
matt_the_bass
I’d recommend the patch for boating related sea sickness. It lasts 3 days.
Most people get the “sea legs” within 3 days, so you don’t need medicine after
it wears off. It works by essentially disconnecting your brain from your inner
ear.

I get dizzy for about 10 minutes after putting it on. And for another 10
minutes after taking it off (if only using it for a day trip). Otherwise, no
side effects.

------
EvangelicalPig
I was born with optic nerve hypoplasia and nystagmus, and despite also having
a condition similar to photosensitive epilepsy start abruptly 7 years ago I've
never been motion sick. I can read my laptop, a tablet, or a book on a rocking
sailboat and never get any hint of being motion sick. It's fascinating.

------
pavel_lishin
> _These Bizarre Glasses Promise to Cure Your Motion Sickness—But At What
> Cost_

Further down in the article:

> _for about $115_

~~~
jsiepkes
I think The "cost" they imply in the title is that you have to wear glasses
which look kind of ridiculous.

------
jlg23
A predecessor was patented in the mid-90s:
[https://register.dpma.de/DPMAregister/pat/PatSchrifteneinsic...](https://register.dpma.de/DPMAregister/pat/PatSchrifteneinsicht?docId=DE69620873T2)

~~~
akavel
Curious: how could you pull out the link just now? Did you have it bookmarked
somewhere for long time? Or did you see it somewhere recently?

~~~
jlg23
I read something about "double glasses with fluid in between them to simulate
the horizon" years ago and then spent some minutes duckduckgoing.

~~~
akavel
Ah, ok, so just the good, old "brain memory" technology :)

------
m-p-3
I fortunately do not suffer from motion sickness anymore, but I had a lot of
issues with that when I was younger in the car.

I kinda hope they work, just in case my 6 months old son has the same problem
later on and for everyone who suffers from the same issue.

------
sametmax
At first I was wondering if we could apply that to VR which got a motion
sickness problem.

But in VR, the problem is the opposite: the screen move, but not your body.

------
mwexler
Even after reading the article, and seeing the video, I kept waiting for
someone to say "April Fools! We are just a little late".

------
marsrover
Wonder if these will help with noise canceling headphones. I get bad motion
sickness from them but really like the quietness they provide.

------
jtwaleson
This could be huge, especially for self-driving cars where people will want to
do something useful while driving!

------
ipunchghosts
Ginger never works for me.

~~~
madengr
Same here. I fell asleep on a boat and woke up vomiting. Can’t read in any
vehicle or watch a video. Forget about playing FPS games too, or a VR headset.
Though airplane turbulence is fine if I sit back with my eyes closed.

There is some wristband that administers light electrical shocks, but maybe it
is hogwash.

[https://www.reliefband.com](https://www.reliefband.com)

------
shostack
If anyone wants to buy me a pair, I'm happy to be a guinea pig with Mirror's
Edge. Currently my record is puking within 5 minutes of playing.

Skyrim is a close second and a game I'd dearly love to find a motion sickness
cure for even with fov cranked up.

~~~
sliken
Umm, these won't help unless the motion making you sick is actually, er,
motion.

------
basicplus2
thats a new record for me..

according to ghostery There were 19 trackers on a site referred by HN
submission..

