A multi-factorial model for performance under vibration

Whole-body vibration affects drivers and passengers in vehicles. These people could be performing a variety of tasks that could be directly related to the control of the vehicle, or could be something unrelated to the vehicle. There is potential for the exposure to WBV whilst performing a task to adversely affect task performance. This paper uses two case studies to illustrate a model of performance and workload whilst exposed to vibration. It is shown that performance whilst completing a discrete task (Purdue pegboard) is easily affected by vibration, but a continuous task (steering wheel) is unaffected. However, in both cases, the self-reported workload increases with vibration. A model is presented that shows that where there is adaptive capacity of the operator, they are able to compensate for the vibration with greater control but at the cost of workload. However, beyond a coping threshold the performance will degrade.