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Mobile-phone pulse triggers evoked potentials

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Carrubba S, Frilot C 2nd, Chesson AL Jr, Marino AA · 2010

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Mobile phone pulses trigger brain responses in 90% of users, suggesting chronic neurological effects during ordinary phone use.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers exposed 20 volunteers to mobile phone pulses (217 Hz frequency) while monitoring brain activity. Advanced analysis detected measurable brain responses in 90% of participants, suggesting mobile phones create detectable changes in brain function that standard testing methods miss.

Why This Matters

This study reveals something remarkable: your brain is actually responding to mobile phone signals in ways that standard medical tests can't detect. The 217 Hz pulsing frequency that all mobile phones emit triggered measurable brain responses in 9 out of 10 people tested. What makes this particularly significant is that these evoked potentials only showed up using sophisticated nonlinear analysis methods, not the conventional time-averaging techniques typically used in medical settings. This means that countless previous studies may have missed these neurological responses entirely. The researchers' conclusion is sobering: if your brain is responding to phone signals every time you make a call, and these responses are happening chronically over years of use, this could explain why so many mobile phone users report symptoms like headaches, sleep disturbances, and concentration problems. The science demonstrates that your nervous system is not ignoring EMF exposure as regulators claim.

Exposure Details

Magnetic Field
0.003 mG
Electric Field
100 V/m
Source/Device
217 Hz

Exposure Context

This study used 100 V/m for electric fields:

This study used 0.003 mG for magnetic fields:

Building Biology guidelines are practitioner-based limits from real-world assessments. BioInitiative Report recommendations are based on peer-reviewed science. Check Your Exposure to compare your own measurements.

Where This Falls on the Concern Scale

Study Exposure Level in ContextA logarithmic scale showing exposure levels relative to Building Biology concern thresholds and regulatory limits.Study Exposure Level in ContextThis study: 0.003 mGExtreme Concern5 mGFCC Limit2,000 mGEffects observed in the No Concern range (Building Biology)FCC limit is 666,667x higher than this exposure level

Study Details

We hypothesized that the low-frequency pulses produced by mobile phones (217 Hz) were detected by sensory transduction, as evidenced by the ability of the pulses to trigger evoked potentials (EPs).

Electroencephalograms (EEGs) were recorded from six standard locations in 20 volunteers and analyzed...

Evoked potentials having the expected latency were found in 90% of the volunteers, as assessed using...

The results implied that mobile-phones trigger EP at the rate of 217 Hz during ordinary phone use. Chronic production of the changes in brain activity might be pertinent to the reports of health hazards among mobile-phone users.

Cite This Study
Carrubba S, Frilot C 2nd, Chesson AL Jr, Marino AA (2010). Mobile-phone pulse triggers evoked potentials Neurosci Lett. 469(1):164-168, 2010.
Show BibTeX
@article{s_2010_mobilephone_pulse_triggers_evoked_225,
  author = {Carrubba S and Frilot C 2nd and Chesson AL Jr and Marino AA},
  title = {Mobile-phone pulse triggers evoked potentials},
  year = {2010},
  
  url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304394009015596},
}

Quick Questions About This Study

Researchers exposed 20 volunteers to mobile phone pulses (217 Hz frequency) while monitoring brain activity. Advanced analysis detected measurable brain responses in 90% of participants, suggesting mobile phones create detectable changes in brain function that standard testing methods miss.