1990 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Studies on the Effects of Infrasound on Vestibular Function.
| Project/Area Number |
63570237
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
Hygiene
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| Research Institution | Mie University |
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Principal Investigator |
SAKAMOTO Hiroshi Mie Univ., School of Med., Dep. of Hygiene, Professor, 医学部, 教授 (40024674)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
MURATA Mariko Mie Univ., School of Med., Dep. of Hygiene, Assistant, 医学部, 助手 (10171141)
TAKIGAWA Hiroshi Mie Univ., School of Med., Dep. of Hygiene, Assoc. Prof., 医学部, 助教授 (80126979)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1988 – 1990
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| Keywords | Infrasound / Vestibular function / Body sway / Involuntary eye movement / Pulse wave / Exposed sensation / Subjective symptone |
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| Research Abstract |
The present study was undertaken in order to elucidate subjective symptoms among individuals exposed to various sounds including infrasound. Narrow-band infrasound of 5 or 15 Hz at center-frequency at an intensity of 95dB SPL and wide octave-band audible noise at an intensity of 70 or 95dB (A) were separately applied. Parameters such as involuntary eye movement with the eyes visually fixed, body sway, and pulsewave were investigated on 25, 34, and 9 healthy subjects respectively.
The total amount and power percentage in low frequency-band of involuntary eye movement was significantly increased upon exposure to infrasound. Further, confusion in postural control at the time of transition from opening to closing of the subject's eyes was inhibited by exposure to infrasound. Conversely, pulsewave height decrement was observed upon exposure to all kinds of sound, although smaller in infrasound as compared with that in noise.
These findings are taken to indicate that the effects through the two different pathways were mixed in the subjective symptoms functional changes due to infrasound exposure were unrelated to an emotion through acoustical sensation.
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