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Brain & Nervous System

Can mobile phone emissions affect auditory functions of cochlea or brain stem?

No Effects Found

Sievert U, Eggert S, Pau HW · 2005

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Short-term mobile phone exposure showed no immediate effects on hearing function in this small study of 12 people.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

German researchers tested whether mobile phone emissions affect hearing by measuring auditory brain stem responses in 12 healthy volunteers before, during, and after exposure to both pulsed and continuous electromagnetic fields from standardized mobile phones. They found no changes in hearing function or brain stem responses during the short-term exposure period, though they acknowledged their study couldn't rule out potential long-term effects.

Study Details

Despite their abundant spread, mobile phones are suspected by a major share of the population to cause adverse effects on health and welfare. The ear as the sense organ next to the individual device has rarely been investigated for short-term effects in this regard. In a previous article, we could not prove any impact on the vestibular part of the inner ear. Our present examinations are concerned with the question whether mobile phone emissions could affect cochlear or auditory brain stem functions.

In 12 healthy test persons with normal hearing, auditory brain stem reflexes recordings were perfor...

No impact on auditory brain stem reflexes recordings in terms of absolute and interpeak latencies co...

Together with the results of a previous article concerned with the vestibular part of the inner ear, we can state that there are no adverse effects of mobile phone emissions on the ear function, at least on a short-term range. Of course, any long-term effects cannot be excluded by our study.

Cite This Study
Sievert U, Eggert S, Pau HW (2005). Can mobile phone emissions affect auditory functions of cochlea or brain stem? Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 132(3):451-455, 2005.
Show BibTeX
@article{u_2005_can_mobile_phone_emissions_3400,
  author = {Sievert U and Eggert S and Pau HW},
  title = {Can mobile phone emissions affect auditory functions of cochlea or brain stem?},
  year = {2005},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15746860/},
}
PubMed: 15746860

Cited By (49 papers)

Quick Questions About This Study

German researchers found no changes in auditory brain stem responses when 12 healthy volunteers were exposed to standardized mobile phone emissions. The 2005 study tested both pulsed and continuous electromagnetic fields, measuring hearing function before, during, and after exposure with no detectable short-term effects.
A 2005 German study found no adverse effects on cochlear or inner ear function from mobile phone emissions. Researchers tested 12 volunteers with standardized phones and detected no changes in hearing responses, though they acknowledged their study couldn't rule out potential long-term effects.
Research by Sievert and colleagues found no difference between pulsed and continuous electromagnetic fields from mobile phones on hearing function. Both signal types produced no detectable changes in auditory brain stem responses or cochlear function during short-term exposure in healthy volunteers.
The 2005 German study on mobile phone emissions and hearing found no short-term effects on auditory function. However, researchers specifically noted that their study design couldn't exclude potential long-term effects on cochlear or brain stem hearing responses from chronic exposure.
German researchers found no adverse effects from mobile phone emissions on inner ear function, including both hearing (cochlear) and balance (vestibular) systems. The 2005 study combined results from hearing tests with previous vestibular research to conclude no short-term ear function impacts.