The influence of whole-body vibration, media, and artificial lighting on eye-movement during reading

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate if participants, subjected to whole-body vibration, two different types of media (paper versus tablet) and two lighting environments (fluorescent versus LED), present a difference in eye-movement parameters during reading tasks. Methods: Fourteen adults silently read two different texts in each one of the eight randomized testing conditions (whole-body vibration versus media versus lighting), resulting in 16 different texts read per individual. Whole-body vibration was applied in the vertical direction, 5Hz and 0.8 m/s 2 root-mean-square amplitude, a condition similar to those experienced by forklift truck drivers. Participants were in a sitting position with a backrest. An eye-tracker evaluated the eye-movements during the reading task. Results: Whole-body vibration significantly reduced the number of ocular fixations, and cross-correlation; and increased the reading efficiency, fixation duration, directional attack, and binocular anomalies. Neither the type of media nor the lighting environment interfered significantly with the eye-movements, both in situations with and without vibration. Conclusion: The results indicate that whole-body vibration interfered in the eye-movements during the reading task. This may impose a difficulty to process the visual information and to synchronously coordinate the binocular movements under vibration environments.