Using consumer electronic devices to estimate whole-body vibration exposure

Abstract

The cost and complexity of commercially available devices for measuring whole-body vibration is a barrier to the systematic collection of the information required to manage this hazard at workplaces. The potential for a consumer electronic device to be used to estimate whole-body vibration was assessed by use of an accelerometer calibrator, and by collecting 42 simultaneous pairs of measurements from a fifth-generation iPod Touch and one of two gold standard vibration measurement devices (Svantech SV111 [Svantech, Warsaw, Poland] or Brüel & Kjær 4447 [Brüel & Kjær Sound & Vibration Measurement A/S, Nærum, Denmark]) while driving light vehicles on a variety of different roadway surfaces. While sampling rate limitations make the accelerometer data collected from the iPod Touch unsuitable for frequency analysis, the vibration amplitudes recorded are sufficiently accurate (errors less than 0.1 m/s(2)) to assist workplaces manage whole-body vibration exposures.