National Technical Reports Library

The National Technical Information Service acquires, indexes, abstracts, and archives the largest collection of U.S. government-sponsored technical reports in existence. The NTRL offers online, free and open access to these authenticated government technical reports. Technical reports and documents in its repository may be available online for free either from the issuing federal agency, the U.S. Government Publishing Office’s Federal Digital System website, or through search engines.

Details

Reliability of a Widely-Used Test of Peripheral Cutaneous Vibration Sensitivity and Comparison of Two Testing Protocols,

PB89130017

Publication Date	1988
Personal Author	Gerr, F. E.; Letz, R.
Page Count	18
Abstract	Instruments which measure peripheral sensory function have been used in several epidemiological studies to evaluate hazardous working conditions; 22 healthy volunteers were tested to determine the reliability and time efficiency of two testing protocols for the determination of cutaneous vibration sensitivity. A widely used testing device, Vibration-II, was used to administer both protocols: a method of limits (MOL) protocol and the Sensortek forced choice (FC) protocol. The MOL procedure was superior to the FC procedure in that the former was far more reliable and required about half as much time to administer. Administration time could be reduced to about one third from the times reported without affecting the reliability of the MOL threshold estimate. The findings suggest that the current wide spread uncritical acceptance of FC procedures as preferable to the MOL may be unwarranted. Even so, for all methods used it was necessary to have a further elucidation of the variables that affect vibration threshold estimates. Some of the variables included severity of disease and level of educational attainment. The authors recommend the MOL procedure when the severity of disease in the test population is mild to moderate and when subjects are fully able to understand and comply with instructions.
Keywords	Vibration Epidemiology Peripheral nervous system diseases Humans Exposure Methodology Measuring instruments Occupational safety and health
Source Agency	National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
NTIS Subject Category	57U - Public Health & Industrial Medicine 95C - Biomedical Instrumentation & Bioengineering 44G - Environmental & Occupational Factors 44T - Data & Information Systems 94D - Job Environment
Corporate Authors	Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York.; National Inst. for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH.
Supplemental Notes	Sponsored by National Inst. for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH.
Document Type	Technical Report
NTIS Issue Number	198906

Reliability of a Widely-Used Test of Peripheral Cutaneous Vibration Sensitivity and Comparison of Two Testing Protocols,

Reliability of a Widely-Used Test of Peripheral Cutaneous Vibration Sensitivity and Comparison of Two Testing Protocols,
PB89130017

Publication Date	1988
Personal Author	Gerr, F. E.; Letz, R.
Page Count	18
Abstract	Instruments which measure peripheral sensory function have been used in several epidemiological studies to evaluate hazardous working conditions; 22 healthy volunteers were tested to determine the reliability and time efficiency of two testing protocols for the determination of cutaneous vibration sensitivity. A widely used testing device, Vibration-II, was used to administer both protocols: a method of limits (MOL) protocol and the Sensortek forced choice (FC) protocol. The MOL procedure was superior to the FC procedure in that the former was far more reliable and required about half as much time to administer. Administration time could be reduced to about one third from the times reported without affecting the reliability of the MOL threshold estimate. The findings suggest that the current wide spread uncritical acceptance of FC procedures as preferable to the MOL may be unwarranted. Even so, for all methods used it was necessary to have a further elucidation of the variables that affect vibration threshold estimates. Some of the variables included severity of disease and level of educational attainment. The authors recommend the MOL procedure when the severity of disease in the test population is mild to moderate and when subjects are fully able to understand and comply with instructions.
Keywords	Vibration Epidemiology Peripheral nervous system diseases Humans Exposure Methodology Measuring instruments Occupational safety and health
Source Agency	National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
NTIS Subject Category	57U - Public Health & Industrial Medicine 95C - Biomedical Instrumentation & Bioengineering 44G - Environmental & Occupational Factors 44T - Data & Information Systems 94D - Job Environment
Corporate Authors	Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York.; National Inst. for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH.
Supplemental Notes	Sponsored by National Inst. for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH.
Document Type	Technical Report
NTIS Issue Number	198906