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. 2007 Nov 12:7:325.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-7-325.

Short GSM mobile phone exposure does not alter human auditory brainstem response

Gábor Stefanics  1 , Lóránd Kellényi, Ferenc Molnár, Györgyi Kubinyi, György Thuróczy, István Hernádi
Affiliations

Short GSM mobile phone exposure does not alter human auditory brainstem response

Gábor Stefanics et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: There are about 1.6 billion GSM cellular phones in use throughout the world today. Numerous papers have reported various biological effects in humans exposed to electromagnetic fields emitted by mobile phones. The aim of the present study was to advance our understanding of potential adverse effects of the GSM mobile phones on the human hearing system.

Methods: Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) was recorded with three non-polarizing Ag-AgCl scalp electrodes in thirty young and healthy volunteers (age 18-26 years) with normal hearing. ABR data were collected before, and immediately after a 10 minute exposure to 900 MHz pulsed electromagnetic field (EMF) emitted by a commercial Nokia 6310 mobile phone. Fifteen subjects were exposed to genuine EMF and fifteen to sham EMF in a double blind and counterbalanced order. Possible effects of irradiation was analyzed by comparing the latency of ABR waves I, III and V before and after genuine/sham EMF exposure.

Results: Paired sample t-test was conducted for statistical analysis. Results revealed no significant differences in the latency of ABR waves I, III and V before and after 10 minutes of genuine/sham EMF exposure.

Conclusion: The present results suggest that, in our experimental conditions, a single 10 minute exposure of 900 MHz EMF emitted by a commercial mobile phone does not produce measurable immediate effects in the latency of auditory brainstem waves I, III and V.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Grand average ABR waveforms recorded before and after genuine or sham RF exposure. Grand average ABR waveforms recorded before and after genuine or sham RF exposure for rarefaction (A), condensation (C) and alternating (E) stimuli. Panels on the left show ABR waveforms recorded before and after genuine EMF exposure, while panels to the right depicts ABR waveforms recorded before and after sham EMF exposure for rarefaction (B), condensation (D) and alternating (F) stimuli.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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