Permanent Effects of Low Frequency Vibration on the Vestibular System

Abstract

Among 49 male workers, mean age 30 years, who had been working in conditions of extreme noise and vibration for between 6 months and 10 years vestibular disturbances could be shown (in the form of spontaneous nystagmus, lowered caloric excitability, or pathology in rotatory tests) in as high as 44.9%. The lesions were believed to have arisen in the peripheral vestibular organ as a consequence of the low frequency vibration.