Vibration, temperature, and humidity influences on the perception of electrocutaneous stimulation for occupational warning

Vibration, temperature, and humidity influences on the perception of electrocutaneous stimulation for occupational warning | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Vibration, temperature, and humidity influences on the perception of electrocutaneous stimulation for occupational warning Eva-Maria Dölker, Daniel Gröllich, Martin Schmauder, Jens Haueisen This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4795941/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 04 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Electrocutaneous stimulation can be used to warn workers in hazardous situations. To determine parameters for the operatingranges of such warning systems we investigated the influences of vibrations, temperature, and humidity on the perception,attention, muscle twitch, and intolerance thresholds of healthy volunteers in a multi-center study. In a study on 94 participants,vibrations with amplitudes of 2 mm, 5 mm, and 8 mm and at frequencies of 8 Hz and 9.5 Hz were applied to the right arm. In asecond study, 52 participants experienced temperature and humidity variations within a climate chamber in four conditions: drycold (13.8 ± 1.6 °C, 33.9 ± 9.2% relative humidity (RH)), dry warm (41.3 ± 1.7 °C, 24.6 ± 5.8% RH), wet cold (12.0 ± 1.6 °C, 88.5± 8.2% RH), and wet warm (41.3 ± 2.1 °C, 65.5 ± 9.0% RH). In both studies, the upper right arm was electrically stimulated withelectrodes of size 25 mm×40 mm, and thresholds were determined. Perception, attention, and intolerance thresholds increasedwith vibration amplitude and frequency. Perception thresholds slightly increased with decreasing temperature. Muscle twitchthresholds slightly increased with increasing temperature. For both studies, women showed smaller perception and attentionthresholds as well as less muscle twitching. We conclude that the operating range of future electrical warning systems needsto be flexibly adjusted to the working conditions. The influence of the climate conditions was minor. Physical sciences/Engineering/Biomedical engineering Health sciences/Health care/Occupational health Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 04 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 24 Jun, 2025 Reviews received at journal 23 Jun, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 23 May, 2025 Reviews received at journal 06 May, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 25 Apr, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Oct, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 25 Oct, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 23 Oct, 2024 Editor invited by journal 06 Aug, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 04 Aug, 2024 First submitted to journal 24 Jul, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4795941","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":346843981,"identity":"71ae9143-693e-4aad-ad7e-688e8fa635c9","order_by":0,"name":"Eva-Maria Dölker","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Technische Universität Ilmenau, Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Informatics, Ilmenau, 98693","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Eva-Maria","middleName":"","lastName":"Dölker","suffix":""},{"id":346843983,"identity":"0e93e5e5-2262-47f8-9618-d432bc5c9d79","order_by":1,"name":"Daniel Gröllich","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Technische Universität Dresden, Institute of Material Handling and Industrial Engineering, Chair of Labour Engineering, Dresden, 01062","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Daniel","middleName":"","lastName":"Gröllich","suffix":""},{"id":346843985,"identity":"8a582317-d2b2-4d16-9313-d94a24b7916d","order_by":2,"name":"Martin Schmauder","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Technische Universität Dresden, Institute of Material Handling and Industrial Engineering, Chair of Labour Engineering, Dresden, 01062","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Martin","middleName":"","lastName":"Schmauder","suffix":""},{"id":346843987,"identity":"2f207015-3902-4909-b18f-2c0d5acf5af3","order_by":3,"name":"Jens Haueisen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Technische Universität Ilmenau, Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Informatics, Ilmenau, 98693","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jens","middleName":"","lastName":"Haueisen","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-07-24 14:00:09","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4795941/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4795941/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-25166-2","type":"published","date":"2025-11-04T15:57:37+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":95564159,"identity":"a5df1f38-4197-4fab-a011-58d62ed407c5","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-10 16:08:31","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1276977,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"doelkergroellich.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4795941/v1_covered_5f5b338b-ff91-4a67-8f01-86b3b47066b7.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Vibration, temperature, and humidity influences on the perception of electrocutaneous stimulation for occupational warning","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4795941/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4795941/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Electrocutaneous stimulation can be used to warn workers in hazardous situations. To determine parameters for the operatingranges of such warning systems we investigated the influences of vibrations, temperature, and humidity on the perception,attention, muscle twitch, and intolerance thresholds of healthy volunteers in a multi-center study. In a study on 94 participants,vibrations with amplitudes of 2 mm, 5 mm, and 8 mm and at frequencies of 8 Hz and 9.5 Hz were applied to the right arm. In asecond study, 52 participants experienced temperature and humidity variations within a climate chamber in four conditions: drycold (13.8 ± 1.6 °C, 33.9 ± 9.2% relative humidity (RH)), dry warm (41.3 ± 1.7 °C, 24.6 ± 5.8% RH), wet cold (12.0 ± 1.6 °C, 88.5± 8.2% RH), and wet warm (41.3 ± 2.1 °C, 65.5 ± 9.0% RH). In both studies, the upper right arm was electrically stimulated withelectrodes of size 25 mm×40 mm, and thresholds were determined. Perception, attention, and intolerance thresholds increasedwith vibration amplitude and frequency. Perception thresholds slightly increased with decreasing temperature. Muscle twitchthresholds slightly increased with increasing temperature. For both studies, women showed smaller perception and attentionthresholds as well as less muscle twitching. We conclude that the operating range of future electrical warning systems needsto be flexibly adjusted to the working conditions. 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