Assessment of Stress Relief Effect in Railway Services

Abstract

This study quantitatively assesses stress relief effect in railway services by using RRI data derived from human heart rate variability. The study focuses on two situations in which stress relief effect is expected. These situations are (1) riding on a women-only coach and (2) using a noise canceling system. As methods to assess stress quantitatively, total stress values were calculated from RRI medians, and stress variability were analyzed by using Lorenz plots. The analytical result of the two methods showed that riding on a women-only coach and using a noise canceling system both exerted stress relief effect. Thus we concluded that it was possible to quantitatively assess stress relief effect of various measures in railway services by analyzing heart rate variability.