Human Response to Whole-Body Vibration: An Evaluation of Current Trends

Abstract

For the past 40 years, experiments have been underway to establish equal-sensation contours throughout the frequency range of vibration normally encountered in vehicular transport. Unfortunately, there has been little consistency in the results. This inconsistency is probably attributable to an almost exclusive reliance on methods which require subjects to rate vibration in semantic terms. During the last few years there has been an increasing awareness of the value of psychophysical techniques, and very recently an attempt was made to develop a ratio scale relating the objective and subjective magnitudes of vibration stimuli. The present paper argues that this attempt should form the starting point for future research. It also argues that fractionation and multiplication procedures are more appropriate than magnitude estimation procedures for developing ratio scales. Some preliminary data are presented to support this latter claim.