The influence of whole-body vibration, media, and artificial lighting on eye-movement during reading

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate if participants, subjected to whole-body vibration, two different types of media (paper versus tablet) and two lighting environments (fluorescent versus LED), present a difference in eye-movement parameters during reading tasks. Methods: Fourteen adults silently read two different texts in each one of the eight randomized testing conditions (whole-body vibration versus media versus lighting), resulting in 16 different texts read per individual. Whole-body vibration was applied in the vertical direction, 5Hz and 0.8 m/s2 root-meansquare amplitude, a condition similar to those experienced by forklift truck drivers. Participants were in a sitting position with a backrest. An eye-tracker evaluated the eye-movements during the reading task. Results: Whole-body vibration significantly reduced the number of ocular fixations, and crosscorrelation; and increased the reading efficiency, fixation duration, directional attack, and binocular anomalies. Neither the type of media nor the lighting environment interfered significantly with the eyemovements, both in situations with and without vibration. Conclusion: The results indicate that whole-body vibration interfered in the eye-movements during the reading task. This may impose a difficulty to process the visual information and to synchronously coordinate the binocular movements under vibration environments.