JNIOSH Reproduction of Multi-modal Sensation Sub line

March 2, 2010 - PRLog -- To add reality and interactivity when evaluating whole-body vibration, the Japanese National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (JNIOSH ) combined sound and visual information using Brüel & Kjær’s NVH Simulator

Traditionally, a single- or multi-degree-of-freedom (DOF) vibrator is used to reproduce vibration for evaluating the effect of whole-body vibration exposure. To add more reality and interactivity, JNIOSH created a system combining sound and visual information generated by a Brüel & Kjær NVH Simulator with the vibration signal generated by a 6-degree-of-freedom vibrator.

This new multi-modal simulator plays sound, visuals and vibration simultaneously and the sets of stimuli can be sequenced in arbitrary order. The system is used to perform subjective evaluation with all kinds of psychometric experiments.

JNIOSH has a strong connection with universities and research organisations worldwide including Loughborough University in the UK with whom they have written joint papers. Working mainly on pure research and collaboration projects funded by customers, JNIOSH undertakes two to three paid projects a year. Among their particular interests are psycho-vibration, comfort evaluation and how vibration affects health and safety issues.

The Human Engineering and Risk Management Research Group is part of the Institute of Industrial Safety and the research activities of this group cover two main areas. One relates to health hazards in work environments, and the other involves occupational accidents. The group is currently conducting health studies relating to dust, harmful gases, noise, sound (including low frequency), vibration and low back-pain; as well as safety studies relating to human errors or organisational errors that result in workplace accidents.

The full case study is available on Bruel & Kjaer UK’s website.

ENDS

# # #

World-leading manufacturer and supplier: sound and vibration solutions for environmental noise measurements, building acoustics, vibration measurements and quality control for use in the automotive, aerospace, consumer industries, local authorities