Effects on auditory function of chronic exposure to electromagnetic fields from mobile phones.

Effects on auditory function of chronic exposure to electromagnetic fields from mobile phones. Ear Nose Throat J. 2016 Aug;95(8):E18-22 Authors: Bhagat S, Varshney S, Bist SS, Goel D, Mishra S, Jha VK Abstract The widespread use of mobile phones has given rise to apprehension regarding the possible hazardous health effects of high-frequency electromagnetic fields (EMFs) on auditory function. We conducted a study to investigate the effects of long-term (>4 yr) exposure to EMFs emitted by mobile phones on auditory function. Our study population was made up of 40 healthy medical students-31 men and 9 women, aged 20 to 30 years (mean 22.7). Of this group, 31 subjects typically held their phone to the right ear and 9 to the left ear; the non-phone-using ear served as each subject's control ear. The phone-using subjects were also split into two groups of 20 based on the duration of their daily phone use (≤60 min vs. >60 min). All subjects underwent pure-tone audiometry, speech audiometry, impedance audiometry, and brainstem evoked response audiometry (BERA), and comparisons were made between the phone-using ear and the control ear and between the shorter and longer duration of daily use. We found no statistically significant differences in high-frequency pure-tone average between the phone-using ears and the control ears (p = 0.69) or between the shorter- and longer-duration phone-using ears (p = 0.85). Moreover, statistical analys...
Source: Ear, Nose and Throat Journal - Category: ENT & OMF Authors: Tags: Ear Nose Throat J Source Type: research