Comfort and fit perception based on 3D anthropometry for ear-related product design

Abstract

Anthropometry and human perception lie at the core of the ergonomic design process. Until now, relevant studies have been quite restricted, being unable to provide a holistic view of the perceived comfort and fit for ear-related products. The study examined the perceived comfort and fit using factor analysis and established a linkage between anthropometry and human perception for design uses. A total of 30 participants (15 male, 15 female) were recruited in the within-subject experiment. The results showed that ear symmetry, gender, concha length, and cavum concha width had either insignificant or weak correlation with the perception scores. Use condition and product size significantly influenced the perceived comfort and fit for ear-related products. Users preferred a larger product size in the dynamic condition than in the static condition. Moreover, the study proposed a novel method to quantify the relationship between anthropometric data and human perception for the ear-related product. For an in-the-ear product, trendlines were generated to link the product size based on 3D anthropometry with the comfort and fit scores.

Keywords: 3D modeling; Comfort and fit; Ear-related product design; Human perception.