HEARING SENSATIONS IN AMPLITUDE MODULATED RADIO FREQUENCY FIELDS
William Talver Harvey, James Page Hamilton · 1964
This 1964 research proved humans can hear radio waves, showing electromagnetic fields directly affect our nervous system.
Plain English Summary
This 1964 thesis by W.T. Harvey investigated how humans can actually hear amplitude modulated radio frequency fields, a phenomenon known as electrophonic hearing. The research explored how RF fields can create audible sensations through mechanisms potentially involving bone conduction. This early work helped establish that electromagnetic fields can directly interact with human sensory systems.
Why This Matters
Harvey's 1964 thesis represents pioneering research into a phenomenon that challenges our basic assumptions about how electromagnetic fields interact with the human body. The fact that amplitude modulated RF fields can create audible sensations demonstrates that EMF exposure isn't just about heating effects or cellular damage - it shows direct neurological interaction. This electrophonic hearing effect reveals that our bodies can act as radio receivers, converting electromagnetic energy into sensory experiences through pathways that may involve bone conduction or direct neural stimulation.
What makes this research particularly relevant today is that it predates our current wireless world by decades, yet it identified biological responses to RF fields that we're only beginning to understand. The reality is that if radio frequencies could create hearing sensations in 1964, we need to seriously consider what today's vastly more complex and powerful wireless signals might be doing to our neurological systems. This isn't about fear - it's about recognizing that electromagnetic fields have demonstrable biological effects that extend far beyond simple thermal heating.
Finding
These electromechanical pressures were computed and compared to the pressures on the skull which were necessary to produce bone conduction hearing. These pressure values fall within the same limits, and thus produce a similar characteristic threshold curve. This leaves little doubt that the investigated hearing phenomenon is caused by the bone conduction mechanism.
In their words
“These electromechanical pressures were computed and compared to the pressures on the skull which were necessary to produce bone conduction hearing. These pressure values fall within the same limits, and thus produce a similar characteristic threshold curve. This leaves little doubt that the investigated hearing phenomenon is caused by the bone conduction mechanism.”
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.
Study Details
To establish as conclusively as possible that the phenomenon of hearing in an amplitude modulated radio frequency field is nothing more than bone conducted sound produced by the electromechanical pressures in the field.
Show BibTeX
@article{hearing_sensations_in_amplitude_modulated_radio_frequency_fields_g6127,
author = {William Talver Harvey and James Page Hamilton},
title = {HEARING SENSATIONS IN AMPLITUDE MODULATED RADIO FREQUENCY FIELDS},
year = {1964},
}