A wearable sensor for measuring whole-body vibration at the lower back

The ability to measure whole body vibration exposure in the workplace is important considering its established link to low back pain. We designed and evaluated a wearable device for measuring vibration exposure at the lower back. Experiments were performed on an electromechanical shaker to compare vibration signals from the wearable device and a reference sensor. Obtained coefficients of determination (R2) for this comparison were 0.88±0.10. Future work will develop individual-specific transfer functions capturing the dynamics of vibration at the lower back in reference to current standards.