Jelte Bos

Research area

In health and natural conditions this works amazingly well. In (e.g., Ménière’s) disease and unnatural conditions (such as being moved by a car, ship or aircraft, or in virtual environments), this perception and control can be illusory and highly disabling due to, e.g., falls, vertigo or dizziness, and different forms of motion sickness (e.g., car-, sea-, air-, cyber-, simulator, and space sickness).

These issues are of particular interest to military personnel operating in extreme conditions. With the growth of technology and our increasing age, these side effects can be predicted to play an increasing role in the coming years. This not only holds for physical conditions but for virtual environments as well.

Together with universities, TNO can and should be helpful in combining the understanding of the phenomena at issue with solutions that better go down to the core of the matter.

Recent results

Thorough en extensive studies with human subjects have been realised by master and PhD students and colleagues at TNO in different combinations of physical and visual motion. This research has been based on defence as well as industry funded projects.

Part of getting the industry interested in our research is based on acuisition facilitated by my professorship, a phenomenon of increasing importance the more East the interested partners are located. The results continue to show that the perception and control of self-motion and orientation as well as the severity of motion sickness are correlated and can be explained by assuming that our central nervous system combines sensory with cognitive information.

The explication of the role of cognition allows for a better prediction not only of the effects at issue per se, but also the effect of countermeasures to minimise, e.g., carsickness, seasickness, airsickness, as well as simulator sickness and cybersickness.

PhD supervision

• Anne Reuten (Ford Motor Company, TNO VP, and VU University)

Top publications

• Bos JE, Leeuwen RB van, Bruintjes TD (2018). Bewegingsziekten in beweging. Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde 162:D1760.
• Bos JE, Lubeck AJA, Vente PEM (2017). Treatment of vestibular disorders with weak asymmetric base-in prisms: An hypothesis with a focus on Meniere's disease. Journal of Vestibular Research 27:251-263.
• Diels C, Bos JE (2016). Self-driving carsickness. Applied Ergonomics 53:374-382.
• Houben MMJ, Meskers AJH, Bos JE, Groen EL (2021). The perception threshold of the vestibular Coriolis illusion. Journal of Vestibular Research, in press.
• Proietti P, Allsop J, Bloch M, Bos JE, Burov O, Clement D, French J, Kirollos R, Lawson BD, Leoncini P, Olonilua M, Rigato P, Rodabaugh T, Sjolund P, Secci S (2021). Guidelines for mitigating cybersickness in virtual reality systems. Technical Report NATO Science and Technology Organisation, Human Factors and Medicine / Modeling and Simulation Group Specialist Team 323 (NATO STO-TR-HFM-MSG-323).
• Reuten AJC, Nooij SAE, Bos JE, Smeets JBJ (2021). How feelings of unpleasantness develop during the progression of motion sickness symptoms. Experimental Brain Research 239:3615-3624.