ABSTRACT
This chapter provides practical guidance on the measurement of human vibration. It also provides an overview of the measurement process. The chapter presents two case studies: a hand-transmitted vibration assessment and a whole-body vibration assessment. If the purchaser of a human vibration meter already owns some accelerometers, then it might be possible to source a compatible instrument. Piezoresistive accelerometers use strain gauges to sense the acceleration. Integrated circuit piezoelectric is the most common of a range of "chip-type" accelerometers. Signal conditioning converts the output from an accelerometer into a voltage that can be measured by a data acquisition and analysis system. One of the most important elements of signal conditioning is the presence of high-pass and low-pass filters. Data-acquisition systems are usually computer based, although some stand-alone data loggers are available. The two key parameters to consider when configuring a data-acquisition system are the resolution and the sample rate.
