[Psychological effects of long-term occupational whole body vibration]

Long-term effects of occupational whole-body vibration (WBV) on psychic performance and on well-being have hardly been described in the literature to date. However, they cannot be excluded, since numerous findings exist on impairments of performance and of well-being in experimentally conditioned short-term effects. Within the framework of comprehensive clearing-up diagnostics in occupational health, 20 male subjects with many years of occupational exposure to WBV were investigated according to a standardized psychodiagnostic programme of methods. The highest rate of pathological findings resulted in the areas of visual perception speed and subtle motory speed of movements. Furthermore, the results are evidence for an interrelation between the duration of exposure and disturbances in the areas of attention, as well as of sensomotory selection responses. As a whole, the results essentially affect the same psychological variables as the results of the short-term studies, but are to be evaluated with reservations on methodological grounds.