The relationship between vibratory sensation and body surface vibration induced by low-frequency noise

Abstract

Human body surface vibration induced by low-frequency noise was measured at the forehead, the chest and the abdomen. At the same time, subjects rated their vibratory sensation at each of these locations. The relationship between the measured vibration on the body surface and the rated vibratory sensation was examined, revealing that the vibratory sensations perceived in the chest and abdomen correlated closely with the vibration acceleration levels of the body surface vibration. This suggested that a person exposed to low-frequency noise perceives vibration at the chest or abdomen by sensing the mechanical vibration that the noise induces in the body. At the head, on the other hand, it was found that the vibratory sensation correlated comparably with the vibration acceleration level of the body surface vibration and the sound pressure level of the noise stimulus. This finding suggested that the mechanism of perception of vibration in the head is different from that of the perception of vibratory sensation in the chest and the abdomen.