Subjective evaluation of isolated and combined exposure to whole-body vibration and noise by means of cross-modality matching.

Cross-modality matching (CMM) were used for the evaluation of combined effects of sinusoidal whole-body vibration (WBV) in Z-axis with the frequencies 3-7 Hz, 1.5 ms-2, and two noise levels (L1 = 65 dBA; L2 = 85 dBA). CMM's were tested by means of three responses: handgrip force, length, estimation and brightness adjustment. The subjects were instructed to set different modalities to a value corresponding to their perception of vibration. The combination of WBV and L2 caused higher sensation responses than WBV and L1.