A multidimensional valuation of the human perception of construction vibration

Previous studies have shown that annoyance due to vibration does not simply depend on the magnitude of vibration exposure. However, only little is known about the important features that contribute the human perception of vibration. This paper presents a study investigating seated subjects' perception of construction induced groundborne vibration in the vertical direction with the method of multidimensional scaling. The investigation was conducted using a paired comparison subjective test. Sixteen subjects were asked about their perception of the annoyance and similarity of sixty-six pairs of vibration stimuli. Through non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis, it is presented that the perception of construction vibration activities are dependent on up to three perceptual dimensions: duration of the signal, vibration energy in the 31.5 Hz of ⅓ octave band, and the centre of mass of the frequency spectrum of the signals. A regression model was built from the relationship between the annoyance ratings and the objective descriptors revealed through the multidimensional scaling analysis. This model was found to describe 79% of the variance in the measured perceived annoyance ratings data with p-level < 0.01

Annoyance due to railway vibration at different times of the day

The time of day when vibration occurs is considered as a factor influencing the human response to vibration. The aim of the present paper is to identify the times of day during which railway vibration causes the greatest annoyance, to measure the differences between annoyance responses for different time periods and to obtain estimates of the time of day penalties. This was achieved using data from case studies comprised of face-to-face interviews and internal vibration measurements (N=755). Results indicate that vibration annoyance differs with time of day and that separate time of day weights can be applied when considering exposure–response relationships from railway vibration in residential environments

Human response to vibration in residential environments (NANR209), technical report 3 : calculation of vibration exposure

The Technical Report 3 describes the research undertaken to develop a methodology by which human exposure to vibration in residential environments can be calculated. That work has carried out by the University of Salford supported by the Department of environment food and rural affairs (Defra). The overall aim of the project is to derive exposure-response relationships for human vibration in residential environments. This document in particular focuses on the methods used to calculate vibration exposure from measured vibration signals due to different sources. The main objective of this report is to describe the different approaches used for calculating the different source-specific exposure. Reported here are findings obtained and a description of the feasibility of the methods used for evaluating exposure for different sources. In addition, an evaluation of the uncertainty related to the exposure calculation is considered