Effects of Increased Ambient Air Pressures on Standing Steadiness in Man

Abstract

The effects of increased ambient air pressures on standing steadiness at 2.2 ATA, 4 ATA, 7 ATA and 19 ATA, as compared with results obtained in two control situations at ambient air pressure 1 ATA, were studied in 10 experimenced divers. The results indicated that (1) there is a strong quadratic relationship between balance and depth, (2) deterioration in balance increases at a much faster rate for the eyes closed condition than for the eyes open condition as depth is increased, (3) there are highly significant individual differences, (4) the performance at depth is related to the performance at the surface, (5) there seems to be no habituation or other adaptation to the test device and (6) there seem to be no essential after-effects to the exposure to increased ambient air pressure under the present conditions. It was concluded that the postural disturbances at increased ambient air pressure might be related to the effect of the breathing medium on the central nervous system as one symptom of nitrogen narcosis in man.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1972
Accession Number
AD0744552

Entities

People

  • J. A. Adolfson
  • L. Goldberg
  • T. Berghage

Organizations

  • United States Navy Experimental Diving Unit

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aerospace Medicine
  • Air Breathing
  • Air Pressure
  • Analysis Of Variance
  • Bats
  • Carbon Dioxide
  • Central Nervous System
  • Deep Depth
  • Depth
  • Ear
  • Economic Forecasting
  • Narcosis
  • Nervous System
  • Physiology
  • Respiration
  • Statistical Analysis
  • Web Browsers

Readers

  • Combustion and Flow Dynamics.
  • Underwater engineering and Marine Technology.
  • Vision Science/Vision Psychology/Cognitive Neuroscience.