Masking of thresholds for the perception of fore-and-aft vibration of seat backrests

• A component of vehicle vibration may not be easily perceptible to passengers.
• Thresholds for perceiving a vibration can be impaired (‘masked’) by other vibrations.
• Masking may depend on whether the vibrations cause sensations at the same locations.

The detection of a vibration may be reduced by the presence of another vibration: a phenomenon known as ‘masking’. This study investigated how the detection of one frequency of vibration is influenced by vibration at another frequency. With nine subjects, thresholds for detecting fore-and-aft backrest vibration were determined (for 4, 8, 16, and 31.5-Hz sinusoidal vibration) in the presence of a masker vibration (4-Hz random vibration, 1/3-octave bandwidth at six intensities). The masker vibration increased thresholds for perceiving vibration at each frequency by an amount that reduced with increasing difference between the frequency of the sinusoidal vibration and the frequency of the masker vibration. The 4-Hz random vibration almost completely masked 4-Hz sinusoidal vibration, partially masked 8- and 16-Hz vibration, and only slightly masked 31.5-Hz vibration. The findings might be explained by the involvement of different sensory systems and different body locations in the detection of different frequencies of vibration.