Medical/biological Study (observational study)

The effect of mobile phone to audiologic system. med./biol.

PubMed Entry

Journal web site

Aim of study (according to author)
To measure changes in hearing level of mobile phone users.
Background/further details:
98 subjects (31 males) were tested. All subjects were investigated for type of used mobile phone, time of mobile phone use, preferred side, medication, personal history of ear diseases and it was asked whether they experience changes in hearing with or without mobile phone use.

Endpoint

• effects on ear: hearing level, otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE, DPOAE), auditory brain stem response, comparison of effects for the dominant and non-dominant side (every person has, similarly to the hand, a dominant hearing side)

Exposure
mobile communication system, mobile phone, GSM, detailled exposure not extractable (no details given in article)

Exposed system:
human
partial body exposure: ear

Methods
Endpoint/Measurement parameters/Methodology

• effects on ear: hearing level (audiometry, speech reception threshold, speech discrimination score, tympanometry), otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE, DPOAE), auditory brain stem response (on both sides), comparison of effects for the dominant and non-dominant side

Main outcome of study (according to author)
The average mobile phone usage time was 32.54 +/-27.64 months. 57 subjects preferred the right side for mobile telephone use. Regarding audiometry, no significant difference between the hearing threshold on the dominant side compared to the non-dominant side was found. In eight subjects that used the mobile phone for more than 60 minutes per day, it was observed that the hearing threshold of the dominant ear was worse. However, due to the small sample size (n=8), this finding did not reach statistical significance.
In this study, the hearing of the user was not significantly affected by the electromagnetic field from the cell phone.

(Study character: medical/biological study, observational study, full/main study)

Study funded by

• not stated/none

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