Whole-body vibration in military vehicles: A literature review

Authors

  • Ann M. Nakashima Human Factors and Engineering Research Section, Defence Research and Development Canada - Toronto, 1133 Sheppard Ave West, Toronto, Ont. M3M 3B9, Canada

Keywords:

Audition, Cognitive systems, Noise abatement, Personnel, Radio communication, Technical presentations, Vibration control, Complex cognitive tasks, Human performance, Military personnel, Whole-body vibration

Abstract

Military personnel are exposed to high levels of whole-body vibration in armoured vehicles. Since command and control operations are likely to become more mobile in the future, it is of interest to understand the effects of whole-body vibration exposure on human performance and communication. This paper is a review of the effects of whole-body vibration on hearing and cognitive performance. Exposure to vibration has been shown to exacerbate noise-induced hearing loss, which may have implications for radio communication and speech understanding. Vibration does not appear to affect performance for simple cognitive tasks, but it may degrade performance on more complex cognitive tasks, particularly if the exposure is of long duration. This could be of key importance in a command and control situation, in which operators are under high cognitive load. The severity of vibration that is experienced in armoured vehicles makes it difficult to perform realistic experiments in the laboratory, meaning that future studies of its effects on cognitive performance and communication will likely have to be performed in the field.

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Published

2005-06-01

How to Cite

1.
Nakashima AM. Whole-body vibration in military vehicles: A literature review. Canadian Acoustics [Internet]. 2005 Jun. 1 [cited 2023 Mar. 28];33(2):35-40. Available from: https://jcaa.caa-aca.ca/index.php/jcaa/article/view/1719

Issue

Vol. 33 No. 2 (2005)

Section

Technical Articles

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