Viability of using digital signals from the keyboard to capture typing force exposures

Details

• Personal Author:
  Johnson PW ; Kim JH
• Description:
  Although previous studies have shown that systematic temporal changes in keystroke durations may be used as surrogate measures of muscle fatigue, software-based keystroke duration may be adversely affected by different keyswitch force-displacement characteristics. Therefore, this study used a force platform to measure the keystroke durations and compared them to software-based measures in order to determine whether the software-based keystroke duration is a robust surrogate measure for the force-derived durations (independent of keyswitch designs). A total of 13 subjects typed for 15 minutes each on three keyboards with different force-displacement characteristics. The results showed that the software-based keystroke durations closely mirrored and approximated the true force-derived keystroke durations, regardless of the force-displacement characteristics. Furthermore, the subject-dependent correlations indicated that the software-based keystroke durations approximated the true force-derived keystroke durations. Therefore, the software-based keystroke durations could be used as a surrogate non-invasive, cost-effective measure to identify muscle fatigue during computer use for large-scale epidemiological studies. Practitioner Summary: Developing non-invasive, cost-effective computer exposure assessment tools can help researchers develop a better understanding on the underlying mechanisms of computer-related musculoskeletal disorders. This study demonstrates how software measured keystroke duration can be used as a non-invasive, cost-effective exposure assessment measure during computer use. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Environmental Monitoring Fatigue Men Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Safety Women
• Keywords:
  Analytical-processes Author Keywords: Computer Use Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Exposure Assessment Force Humans Keyboard-operators Keystroke Duration Measurement-equipment Muscle-function Muscles Musculoskeletal-system Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Musculoskeletal Disorders Office Ergonomics

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• ISSN:
  0014-0139
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  55
• Issue:
  11
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20045079
• Citation:
  Ergonomics 2012 Nov; 55(11):1395-1403
• Contact Point Address:
  Peter W. Johnson, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
• Email:
  petej@uw.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• Performing Organization:
  University of Washington
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20080901
• Source Full Name:
  Ergonomics
• End Date:
  20110831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:cad7a89ec0cb32a2c3c5112da6dce7d80d4ca9161c2f3a8d8264097e3d3822c4668400dea2c059858cfb5d2088dbe0062c9086fc5ec5dd407fb08c178fe574d2
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/200611/cdc_200611_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.40 MB ]