An Experimental Investigation of Preferred Seat Pressure Distribution

Abstract

We experimentally investigated the pressure distributions self-selected by participants using a reconfigurable experimental seat and 12 inflatable cushions. Thirty-seven volunteers participated in the experiment (18 males, 19 females) covering a large range of variation in stature (1.51 to 1.9 m) and BMI (18.6 to 43.8 kg/m2). 12 seating configurations were defined by the combination of 4 back angles (10°, 20°, 30° and 40° from the vertical) and 3 seat pan angles (self-selected from the initial angle of 0°, from initial angle of 25° and average of the two previously selected angles). Results show that preferred pressure proportion on the seat pan depended on sitter’s body size and seat pan angle, implying that there is no a unique ‘ideal’ pressure distribution for all sitters and all seats.