Summary
Auditory evoked brain potentials (AEP) were recorded from nine healthy male subjects during three types of condition: A — subject and visual field stationary; B — subject vibrated (z-axis, 0.6 Hz, 1.85 ms−2 rms), visual field stationary; C subject stationary, visual field vibrated (as for B). The visual surround was confined to a checkerboard pattern in front of the subject. Auditory stimuli (1000 Hz, 86 dB, inter-stimulus interval 7 s) were delivered via headphones to evoke AEP. Vibration-synchronous activity in the EEG was eliminated by a subtraction technique. In comparison with condition A, conditions B and C caused an attenuation of P2 and N1P2 components of AEP together with an increased latency of N1. Effects of conditions B and C did not differ. Direct vestibular stimulation and mechanisms specific for whole-body vibration were rejected as modes of action. The AEP-changes and the subjective evaluation of experimental conditions, arousal and performance, as well as symptoms of kinetosis (motion sickness) suggest a sensory mismatch, leading to a “latent kinetosis” with de-arousal, as the dominating mechanism by which the processing of information was affected. This suggestion was supported by an additional pilot study. Under real working conditions a similar effect can be expected during relative motion between the driver and his visual surround, i.e. even with perfect vibro-isolation of the driver's seat.
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This work was done by the Temporary Research Team on Combined Effects of Noise and Vibration of the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance of the East European Countries
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Seidel, H., Schuster, U., Menzel, G. et al. Changes in auditory evoked brain potentials during ultra-low frequency whole-body vibration of man or of his visual surround. Europ. J. Appl. Physiol. 61, 356–361 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00236053
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00236053