HEARING SENSATIONS IN AMPLITUDE MODULATED RADIO FREQUENCY FIELDS
William Talver Harvey, James Page Hamilton · 1964
This 1964 thesis found that the hearing sensation in an amplitude modulated radio frequency field is bone-conducted sound produced by electromechanical pressures in the field.
Plain English Summary
This 1964 Air Force Institute of Technology thesis investigated hearing sensations in amplitude modulated radio frequency fields, a phenomenon known as electrophonic hearing. A small circular metal probe held close to the skull was excited at 3.5 megacycles, and the electromechanical pressures from the audio frequency components of the field were computed and compared with the pressures on the skull needed for bone conduction hearing. The values fell within the same limits and produced a similar threshold curve.
Why This Matters
This 1964 master's thesis asks a narrow question: what produces the hearing sensation that results when the head is subjected to an amplitude modulated radio frequency field. A small metal probe near the skull, excited at 3.5 megacycles, produced audio frequency field components that created threshold electromechanical pressures. Those pressures matched the pressures on the skull required for bone conduction hearing, with a similar characteristic threshold curve.
The authors state that this leaves little doubt that the hearing phenomenon is caused by the bone conduction mechanism. The work also includes a first experiment on feeling threshold in a radio frequency field, run to check the equipment and develop safety procedures, and a vibrotactile experiment.
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},
}