Equal Intensity Contours for Whole-Body Vibrations Compared with Vibrations Cross-Modally Matched to Isophones

摘要

In this study, two experiments were conducted to determine the curves of equal intensity perception for sinusoidal vertical whole-body vibrations (WBV) of seated subjects over the frequency range from 10 Hz to 250 Hz. Vibrations were presented to subjects using a flat hard seat. In total, 10 participants were asked to match the intensity of different vibrations, using a method of adjustment. The obtained contours were compared with the threshold of vibration and to vibrations cross-modally matched to tones from isophones. The shapes of the equal intensity contours in the present study show reasonable agreement with the contours from other studies despite the use of different methodologies and experimental questions. The contours show a characteristic similar to the perception threshold. No dependency of vibration magnitude on the shape of the contours was found in the applied dynamic range. However, large inter-individual variations were observed. The results imply that vibration curves that are cross-modally matched to isophones show similar characteristics.