Survey Results Concerning Protective Helmet with Earpieces

Background. Over 200,000 motorcyclists are killed annually on global roads. A wide range of motorcyclists, other drivers, and environmental factors contribute to motorcycle crashes, but one factor that is poorly understood is the role of motorcyclists’ ability to hear traffic and other sounds around them in all directions. Most current motorcycle helmets protect the head well and readily permit vision in the forward direction, but they impair the wearer’s ability to hear. This study evaluated user perceptions of Protective Helmet with earpieces equipped motorcycle helmets, which affix new technology onto existing helmets and allow motorcyclists to hear the traffic environment around them in all directions.

Methods. A sample of 59 Colombian traffic police agents who rode motorcycles daily for occupational purposes participated. They completed self-report surveys about their traditional motorcycle helmet, used a Protective Helmet with Earpieces-equipped helmet for two months, and then completed a follow-up survey. We tested two primary hypotheses: (a) the motorcyclists would report decreases in perceived safety, comfort, and ability to detect sounds with their traditional helmet, as well as increased fatigue and stress from motorcycling with their traditional helmet after using the Protective Helmet with earpieces-equipped helmet, and (b) the traffic agent motorcyclists would report high levels of perceived safety and perceived importance of hearing traffic sounds in all directions while motorcycling after using the Protective Helmet with earpieces.

Results. Participants rated their perceived safety while using their traditional helmet to be significantly lower after using a Resonar-equipped helmet compared to before using it (Z = -3.5, p < .001). There were no significant changes in perceived comfort or the perceived ability to detect sound directionality and distance with the traditional helmet or with perceived fatigue or stress while motorcycling. Following the use of the Protective Helmet with Earpieces-equipped helmet, participants reported greatly improved safety with the new helmet (M = 4.56, SD = 0.54, where 4 = safer and 5 = substantially safer). At follow-up assessment, they also perceived the importance of hearing traffic sounds in all directions as high.

Conclusions. Effective strategies to reduce motorcycle crashes are wide-ranging, but effort to improve auditory perception for motorcycle operators should be investigated as an additional effective strategy to help motorcyclists perceive and avert risk of collisions. The present results offer the first published data investigating user perception of Resonar-equipped helmets, which affix newly-developed technology to existing helmets and greatly improve the ability of motorcyclists to hear sounds around them in all directions. The traffic agents who participated felt the Resonar-equipped helmet greatly improved their ability to hear and their safety while motorcycling. Perceived safety while using their traditional helmet decreased following use of the Resonar-equipped helmet. Use of devices such as Resonar to improve the auditory perception capacity of motorcyclists has excellent potential to reduce crashes and increase safety of motorcycle operators worldwide.

Road traffic injuries constitute a global public health problem, killing approximately 1.3 million people annually (World Health Organization, 2018). An estimated 20-25% of those deaths, or over 200,000 fatalities, are to motorcyclists (Global Burden of Diseases, 2023).

Most global road traffic injury burden falls to low- and middle-income nations, especially among vulnerable road users like motorcyclists. In Colombia, the middle-income nation where the current research was conducted, about 60% of deaths related to road traffic collisions are to motorcycle riders (Agencia Nacional de Seguridad Vial, 2023). About 4,800 Colombian motorcyclists were killed in 2022, equivalent to more than 13 deaths per day in a country of 51.5 million people. Many more motorcyclists suffer serious injuries, and the human and economic toll on families is enormous.

A wide range of driver, motorist, and environmental factors contribute to motorcycle crash risk (Konlan & Hayford, 2022; Lin & Kraus, 2009). One factor that is comparatively understudied but potentially critical is the sensory capacity of the motorcycle operator. The safest and most widely-used motorcycle helmets enable adequate vision in all necessary directions, but they generally restrict hearing. Unlike human visual perception, which is most acute only in the direction the viewer is facing, aural perception functions in a 360° environment. Auditory perception allows a listener to grasp what is happening not just in front of them, but also behind and to their sides.

When operating a motorcycle, the ability to hear in all directions, including to the side and behind, offers substantial benefit for safety. Published research on the role of auditory perception for safe motorcycling is absent, but related work suggests pedestrians use listening to protect their safety when crossing streets (Davis et al., 2021; Schwebel, 2013). In the three most-common causes of motorcycle crashes at intersections – the motorcyclist making a left-turn at a T-intersection, the motorcyclist being struck by a vehicle going straight on a cross-road while passing a 4-way intersection, and the motorcyclist being struck by a vehicle turning left on a cross-road while passing a 4-way intersection (Wu et al., 2018) – the motorcyclist would benefit from hearing traffic sounds from vehicles on their left and right. The auditory perception could allow motorcyclists to take emergency aversive action and avoid the collision.

Despite the value of auditory stimuli for motorcycling safety, most currently-marketed motorcycle helmets are designed primarily to absorb and reduce impact to the head. They permit vision in the front-facing direction but they restrict hearing, especially to the side and behind. Recently, new technology, called Resonar, was developed and patented to resolve this issue (Protective helmet with earpieces, patent CO2017006010A1, 2017, CO US 2018 AU SI KR PL HU CN PT WO EP MX BR CA RS MY HR PE RU JP ES 2019 PH IL ZA). Resonar devices affix to currently-marketed motorcycle helmets and facilitate 360° hearing to the wearer (See Figure 1). Without changing or sacrificing other safety features of the helmet, Resonar-equipped helmets allow motorcyclists to hear the environment around them in all directions, similar to the way they would hear if riding helmetless. Resonar devices accomplish this through a three-dimensional audio reference system that receives sound impulses, identifies their spatial location and distance, and then transduces the analog signals through concentric cones toward the driver’s ears.

The present study was designed to collect initial information on motorcyclists’ perception of the Resonar devices, including their assessment of improved safety while using a Resonar-equipped helmet compared to their traditional helmet and their perceived importance of hearing in all directions while motorcycling after using Resonar-equipped helmets. To conduct the study, a sample of 59 traffic police agents who operated a motorcycle daily for occupational purposes was recruited in Colombia. Participants completed self-report surveys concerning their traditional helmet at baseline and again after using a Resonar-equipped helmet for 2 months. We posited two primary hypotheses: (a) the motorcyclists would report decreased perceived safety, comfort, and ability to detect sounds with their traditional helmet, as well as increased fatigue and stress from motorcycling with their traditional helmet, after using the Resonar-equipped helmet, and (b) the traffic agent motorcyclists would report high levels of perceived safety and perceived importance of hearing traffic sounds in all directions while motorcycling after using the Resonar helmet. We also explored whether any reported safety increases were associated with participants’ age, sex, daily motorcycle helmet use, self-rated motorcycling expertise, or self-rated road rule expertise.

Methods
Participants. We recruited 59 traffic police agents from four Colombian cities, Dosquebradas, La Virginia, Manizales, and Pereira, to participate. The sample included 39 men (66%) and 20 women (34%) and was an average of 39.27 years old (SD = 10.12). Nine participants (15%) did not complete the second survey. All participants provided consent to respond to the surveys, and analysis of the data was approved by the Institutional Review Board at University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Protocol. After consenting to study participation, traffic police agents completed a short self-report survey (detailed below) and then were introduced to the Resonar helmet technology. They were given a well-fitting, US Department of Transportation-certified helmet with Resonar technology to use for two months. Following those two months, they completed a second brief self-report survey.

Baseline measures. Demographic information was collected at baseline, including participant age and sex. We also asked about hours of daily helmet use (answered on a 5-point scale: less than 1 hour a day, 2 to 3 hours a day, 3 to 4 hours a day, 4 to 5 hours a day, more than 5 hours a day), years of experience riding motorcycles (5-point scale: less than 1 year, 1 to 3 years, 3 to 5 years, 5 to 7 years, and more than 7 years) and self-reported knowledge about road signs and traffic regulations (5-point scale: none, very little, moderate, strong, expert).

Measures assessed in both surveys. We considered five outcomes that were assessed both at baseline and after participants had used the Resonar helmet for 2 months. Three related to perceptions of their traditional helmet: perception of the helmet’s safety, perception of the helmet’s comfort, and perception of their ability to hear sounds in all directions. These ratings were made on a four-point scale (none, average, high, very high).

The remaining two questions assessed physical state after motorcycling with their traditional helmet. The first asked about fatigue and the second about stress while riding. They also were answered on a four-point scale (always, almost always, hardly ever, never). Responses were reverse-coded for analysis so that higher scores indicated higher levels of fatigue and stress.

Measures assessed following Resonar use. Six items were included in the second survey to assess perceptions of the Resonar-equipped helmet. Four focused specifically on perception of sound with the helmet, asking participants to rate how important it was to hear traffic sounds, motorcycle sounds, sounds on the left/right in front of them, and sounds on the left/right behind them. These 4 items were answered on a 5-point scale, from unimportant to very important.

The last two items asked of participants following use of Resonar for two months assessed their perception of its safety. One read, “During the time you used the Resonar-equipped helmet, how safe did you feel compared to using your traditional helmet?” Participants answered on a 5-point scale: substantially safer, safer, indifferent, no improvement, or got worse), with responses reverse-coded so that higher scores indicated greater perceived safety. The second read, “Do you think a helmet device like Resonar that allows listening to the surroundings with better perception of sound sources in all directions would help avoid collisions while riding a motorcycle?” Responses were provided on a 5-point scale, from “completely agree” [5] to “completely disagree” [1].

Data analysis. Survey responses were transferred into Excel and then SPSS for analysis. First, we considered safety-related questions asked both at baseline and following use of the Resonar helmet for 2 months. Because most distributions were non-normal, we analyzed change over time using Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. A sensitivity analysis was conducted using parametric t-tests. Next, we considered descriptive data of perceptions collected following use of the Resonar helmet. Last, we considered correlations between demographic variables and perceived safety measures.

Results
Table 1 shows descriptive data and Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test results for the items asked both at baseline and after using the Resonar-equipped helmet. As shown, the perceived safety of riding with their traditional helmet was significantly lower after using Resonar (M = 2.56, SD = 0.71) than it was prior to using Resonar (M = 2.95, SD = 0.70; Z = -3.5, p < .001). Contrary to expectations, there was no significant change in perceived comfort of the traditional helmet (Z = -1.75, p = .08) or the perceived ability of the traditional helmet to detect sound directionality and distance (Z = 0.14, p = .89). There also were no changes in fatigue or perceived stress experienced while motorcycling (Z = 0.95, p = .34 and Z = 0.91, p = .36, respectively). Table 1 also shows results of the parametric t-tests computed as a sensitivity analysis to the Wilcoxon tests. Results were highly similar.

Table 2 displays descriptive data concerning the traffic police agents’ perception of the
Resonar-equipped helmet. As shown, they perceived significant improvement in safety when using the new helmet (M = 4.56, SD = 0.54, where 4 = safer and 5 = substantially safer) and strongly felt that a helmet device that helped them hear surroundings in all directions would help avoid collisions while motorcycling (M = 4.78, where 4 = agree and 5 = completely agree). The participants also provided high ratings concerning their perception of the importance of hearing traffic sounds, motorcycle sounds, sounds to the left and right in front of them, and sounds to the left and right behind them while motorcycling. In all cases, ratings were between 4 (important) and 5 (very important): 4.38 (SD = 0.83), 4.44 (SD = 0.79), 4.44 (SD = 0.71), and 4.52 (SD = 0.61), respectively.

Last, we computed bivariate correlations to examine whether perceived change in safety was associated with demographic or other relevant variables. Perceived improvement in safety while using the Resonar-equipped helmet was significantly associated with sex (r = -.36, p = .01), with women perceiving less improvement in safety than men, and with perceived road rule expertise (r = .29, p = .04), with participants perceiving they had greater expertise about road rules also perceiving greater improvement in safety using the Resonar-equipped helmet. We also detected significant associations between higher self-reported expertise in road rules and greater change in perceived safety of the traditional helmet before and after using the Resonar-equipped helmet (r = 0.30, p = 0.03).

Discussion
It is widely recognized that motorcycling is dangerous, killing over 200,000 people annually worldwide. Effective prevention strategies are wide-ranging, but have traditionally overlooked the need for motorcyclists to have excellent auditory perception in all directions. With that capacity, something that is not possible with most traditional helmets, they could take aversive action to reduce collisions.

This study offers the first published data on user perception concerning Resonar-equipped helmets. Results from the sample of traffic agents who ride motorcycles daily for occupational purposes are compelling; they reported considerable improvement in perceived safety improvement while using Resonar-equipped helmets instead of their traditional helmet. They felt they could hear better, and they felt that hearing better in all directions was important to their safety.

The participants also judged the perceived safety of riding with their traditional helmet to diminish after using the Resonar-equipped helmet. They did not perceive any change to the comfort of their traditional helmet, or to the fatigue or stress experienced while motorcycling with their traditional helmet, offering some indication that the Resonar-equipped helmet did not reduce comfort or impact fatigue or stress while riding. The correlation analyses we conducted indicated that perceptions about the Resonar-equipped helmet were similar for all subgroups we studied, although there was some indication that men perceived greater improvement in safety than women and that participants who felt they had greater knowledge about road rules also perceived greater improvement in safety.

Efforts to improve motorcycling safety must be multi-faceted. Continued work to engineer safer roadways, alter car and truck driver behavior, and enforce both general road regulations as well as motorcycle-specific regulations such as helmet laws, are essential. Use of Resonar-equipped helmets might add one more opportunity to our arsenal of strategies to achieve safer motorcycling worldwide. Results from this study offer excellent promise, and we recommend continued research to evaluate and continued work to disseminate use of Resonar-equipped helmets for motorcycling. Future research might extend beyond self-report surveys to consider crash data; do users of Resonar-equipped helmets have reduced crash risk? Randomized trials are recommended as well, demonstrating change in perception among randomly-assigned groups of Resonar-users versus those who retain use of their traditional helmet.

Like all research, this study had limitations. Many of the survey response results had restricted ranges, as perceptions tended to be very strong. This is a positive finding, in that users rated the Resonar-equipped helmets highly, but it impacted our ability to detect subgroup differences due to the restricted range of many variables. Also limiting was the sample, which was derived entirely from individuals operating motorcycles for occupational purposes in a single middle-income country, Colombia. Extension in the future to recreational riders and to individuals in lower-income countries is recommended.

In conclusion, our results offer evidence that Resonar-equiped motorcycle helmets might improve riders’ ability to hear stimuli in all directions, increasing rider safety without sacrificing comfort.

Table 1. Descriptive characteristics of outcome variables, Wilcoxon test results, and results of sensitivity t-test

Note. N=50.

Table 2. Perceptions of safety and importance of hearing relevant sounds after using Resonar helmet (N=50)

Table 3. Correlations between demographic measures and perceived safety with Resonar-equipped helmet

* p < 0.05.

Figure 1. Photographs of the Protective helmet with Ears System by Resonar.

References

Agencia Nacional de Seguridad Vial. (2023). Fallecidos y Lesionados 2021 2022 | ANSV. Retrieved 2/2/23 from: https://ansv.gov.co/es/observatorio/estad%C3%ADsticas/fallecidos-y-lesionados-2021-2022

Davis, S.J., Barton, B.K., Pugliese, B.J., & Lopez, G. (2012). The influences of listening and speaking on pedestrians’ assessments of approaching vehicles. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behavior, 82, 348-358.

Global Burden of Diseases. (2023). Causes of Death Visualization. Retrieved 6/12/23 from: https://vizhub.healthdata.org/cod/

Konlan, K. D., & Hayford, L. (2022). Factors associated with motorcycle-related road traffic crashes in Africa, a scoping review from 2016 to 2022. BMC Public Health, 22(1), 1-13.

Lin, M. R., & Kraus, J. F. (2009). A review of risk factors and patterns of motorcycle injuries. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 41(4), 710-722.

Prestridge, S. (2023). Open your ears to danger: Listening device aimed at boosting rider safety. Motorcycle News. Retrieved 6/16/23 from: https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/new-tech/resonar-bat-8d-listening-safety-device/

Schwebel, D.C. (2013). Do our ears help us cross streets safely? Injury Prevention, 19, 75-76.

World Health Organization (WHO). (2018). Global Status Report on Road Safety 2018. Geneva, Switzerland: The World Health Organization (WHO).

Wu, K. F., Sasidharan, L., Thor, C. P., & Chen, S. Y. (2018). Crash sequence based risk matrix for motorcycle crashes. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 117, 21-31.

Felipe Morales V.1, Yixin Wang2, Ken Pohlmann, Rodrigo Posada, Adolfo Vargas, Jose M. Ramirez, Alejandra Bejarano, Eric Anderson, David C. Schwebel2

1 Pereira, Colombia

2 Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA

Running Head: Improving Motorcyclist Safety

Contact information:

Luis Felipe Morales V. felipe@resonar.com +57 310 4594690

Conflict of interest. Some authors work for Resonar, which is a for-profit company that markets
hearing helmets. Data analyses were completed without bias by authors from the University of
Alabama at Birmingham. All international ethical standards and principles were upheld.

Acknowledgments: Traffic Police Agents of Pereira, Manizales, La Virginia, Director of:
Instituto Municipal de Transito Ing. Andres F. Vanegas, Fundacion Planeta Vial Juan Carlos
Parra Sanabria, Head of agents in Pereira: Juan Gabriel Londoño, Head of Agents in Manizales
(Andett): Juan Carlos Rendon A. Head of Agents in La Virginia: Jorge Luis Bermudez, and
Albeiro Cardeas from CEA Rutas.