Mental fatigue is inevitable in the workplace. Since mental fatigue can lead to decreased efficiency and critical accidents, it is important to manage mental fatigue from the viewpoint of accident prevention. An experiment was performed to evaluate mental fatigue using the formant frequency analysis of human voices. The experimental task was to mentally add or subtract two one-digit numbers. After completing the tasks with four different levels of mental fatigue, subjects were asked to read Korean vowels and their voices were recorded. Five vowel sounds of “아”, “어”, “오”, “우”, and “이” from the voice recorded were then used to extract formant 1 frequency. Results of separate ANOVAs showed significant main effects of mental fatigue on formant 1 frequencies of all five vowels concerned. However, post-hoc comparisons revealed that formant 1 frequencies of “아” and “어” were most sensitive to mental fatigue level employed in this experiment. Formant 1 frequencies of “아” and “어” significantly decrease as the mental fatigue accumulates. The formant frequency extracted from human voice would be potentially applicable for detecting mental fatigue induced during industrial tasks.

단조 작업에 의한 정신적 피로도의 평가를 위하여 피험자에게 1자릿수 숫자 3개를 더하는 연산 작업을 수행하게 하였다. 주관적 평가를 통해 단조작업임이 확인된 task를 사용하여 작업 시간이 증가함에 따라 단조감이 증가하도록 실험과정을 설계하고 생리신호를 측정하였다. 측정된 생리신호 중 심전도, 피부온도, 호흡을 분석하였다. 단조 작업을 수행함에 따라 피부온도의 증가 경향이 나타났으며, 심박 변화율의 전력스펙트럽 분석결과 고주파성분의 감소와 Power spectrum balance가 증가하였다. 특히 power spectrum balance와 주관적 평가치의 상관관계가 높게 나타났다. 또한 상관관계가 높은 생리신호를 사용하여 정신피로를 예측한 결과 (R=0.945)가 정신피로를 잘 나타낼 수 있음을 알 수 있었다.

The purpose of this study is to find out the subjective and objective fatigue level and the characteristics of seamen's physical strength with the service period on board, to have a new understanding of the vocation, and to explore a physical exercising program for the seamen. The questionnaire survey for the seamen who had been in service on the ocean going vessels was conducted and the results are fumed out as the followings. Total number of seamen who had answered the questionnaire was 64 persons and the distribution status of service period group was identified as 16 persons for each of 4 groups； the group was classified as the group of less than 5 years, 5 - 10 years, 10 - 15 years, and more than 15 years. 1. Working conditions Working hours in a week was identified as 44－56 hours(45.3%) and the number of 45.3% of the seamen answered the working hours in week is more than 56 hours. The seamen of 25.0% are unsatisfied or very unsatisfied with their vocation. The seamen of 65.6% are smoking, and 45.3% of them drink. The seamen of 44.,3% drink once or more in a week. And the seamen of 67.2% do not take any exercise in a week. 2. Contribution to the seamen's fatigue and subjective symptom The most contributive factor to the seamen's fatigue was identified as the short of sleeping(21.5%), overwork(19.2%), poor working conditions (18.6%), and the friction in human relations also becomes one the contribution to the fatigue(14.0%). The subjective symptom by fatigue was identified as the feeling of languid, sleepy and tiredness of eyes. 3. Characteristics of the seamen's physical strength and Interrelations The grip strength and back strength of the seamen whose service period is less than 5 years were measured as 40.44kg and 127.8kg. The sit ups in the group of service period less than 5 years was measured as 36.84 times, and the vertical jump for the seamen in this group was measured as 46.55cm. The closed-eyes foot balance was measured as 33.64 seconds in the group of service period between 5 and 10 years, and side-step was measured as 35.31 times in the group of service period less than 5 years. The standing trunk flexion was measured as 10.54cm for the seamen whose service period is between 10-15 years, and the trunk extension was measured as 50.70cm for the seamen whose service period is less than 5 years. And the step test of the seamen whose service period is between 10-15 years was measured as 54.44 numbers, and the number of flickers of the seamen whose service period is less than 5 years was measured as 32.94.