Predictive Discomfort and Seat-to-Head Transmissibility in Low-Frequency Fore-Aft Whole-Body Vibration

Abstract

A predictive discomfort measure considering the combined neck and trunk is introduced in this work and compared with the seat-to-head transmissibility and subjective reported discomfort due to fore-aft whole-body vibration of seated subjects under two sitting postures. Five subjects were tested using discrete sinusoidal frequencies in the range of 0.5–12 Hz. All files were run at a constant acceleration of 0.8 m/s2. The subjects were tested with back support and without back support, and their subjective discomfort measure was reported based on the Borg CR-10 scale. The results have demonstrated that the predictive discomfort was invulnerable to the measurement locations and has shown consistency with the subjective discomfort for both sitting conditions. The seat-to-head transmissibility showed less consistency with the subjective discomfort and was sensitive to the locations of the output point on the head and to the components of the motion included in the transmissibility calculation at these locations.