VIBROTACTILE PERCEPTION THRESHOLDS AS DETERMINED BY 2 DIFFERENT DEVICES IN A WORKING POPULATION

Objectives The purpose of this study was to investigate whether two de vices for measuring vibrotactile perception thresholds produced simila r results on an individual basis and to compare the thresholds in the presence or absence of sensorineural hand symptoms and vibration expos ure. Methods Vibrotactile perception thresholds were measured with a v ibrameter and a tactilometer in 178 men. The tactilometer uses seven d iscrete frequencies from 8 to 500 Hz, and the vibrameter uses one freq uency (100 Hz). Agreement was assessed from the correlations and from a comparison of subjects who had thresholds above the upper quartile o f each device as to the presence of sensorineural hand symptoms and oc cupational vibration exposure. Results The correlation between the vit rameter and the tactilometer (125 Hz) was 0.59. The agreement between the vibrameter and the tactilometer (63 Hz), when the upper quartile w as used as a limit, had a sensitivity of 0.56 and a specificity of 0.8 5. The sensitivity and specificity for the agreement with symptoms wer e 0.44 and 0.79, respectively, for the tactilometer and 0.40 and 0.78, respectively, for the vibrameter. The indices combined from the diffe rent frequencies of the tactilometer did not improve the agreement. Co nclusions Some of the discrepancy between the measurement of the vibra meter and tactilometer can be explained by differences in the equipmen t, the measurement procedures, and the examiner, combined with high in ter- and intraindividual variability. Neither of the two devices was s uperior when the results were compared as to the occurrence of hand sy mptoms and vibration exposure. As evaluated in this study vibrotactile perception threshold has a restricted value for screening and diagnos tic purposes on an individual basis.