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Effect of Electromagnetic Radiation from Mobile Phones on Auditory Brainstem Response

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Abstract

Mobile phones are being used by around 70% of the global population. A simple non-invasive procedure to detect early impairment of the acoustic nerve and auditory pathway is by auditory brainstem response (ABR). It’s a response to the sound stimulus generated from the brainstem in the form of electrical impulses. To determine the effect of long-term usage of mobile phones on auditory brainstem responses (ABRs). This Epidemiological, cross-sectional study was undertaken at a tertiary care hospital and includes 865 individuals aged between 18 to 45 years using mobile phone for > 2 years. Users were categorized into various groups according to the minutes of mobile usage per day, years of mobile usage and total duration of mobile phone use in dominant (mobile using) and non-Dominant (non-mobile using) ears. The changes in ABR were studied in each ear to ascertain the effect of EMF exposure due to chronic mobile phone use. Mean age of subjects was 27.01 years. (M: F = 1.57:1.0). Range of mobile phone usage was from 4 to 900 min/day, with mean as 85.94 min/day. No significant differences were seen between dominant and non-dominant ears in regard to amplitudes of wave I, III and V, latencies of wave I and V and Inter peak latency (IPL) of wave I–III, III–V and I–V. No statistically significant difference for I–III, III–V and I–V IPL were found b/w two groups/ears except for usage of mobile phone for > 180 min/day in wave I–V, usage for 0–4 years in wave I–III and I–V and net hours usage for > 1500 h in wave I–V. The mean IPL in all the waves increases with the increase in years of mobile usage and is maximum in all waves in > 12 years mobile users. The long-term exposure to EMF does induce measurable changes in ABRs. Amplitude and IPLs of ABR were found comparable between the dominant and non-dominant ears using mobile phones, except for those using mobile usage for > 180 min/day and with increasing years of usage of mobile phone. Therefore, prudent use of mobile phone should be encouraged for a shorter period of time and for essential purpose only.

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Funding

SERB-Science & Engineering Research Board. The study has been conducted by extramural grant provided by SERB ‘‘Effect of EMF radiation on auditory system of mobile users’’ under possible impact of EMF radiations exposure from mobile phones and handsets in life initiatives: Government of India. The study has been conducted at institute of my previous assignment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head-Neck Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Deoghar, Jharkhand, 814142, India

    Saurabh Varshney, Sumeet Angral, K. S. B. S. Sasanka & Prem Aanand

  2. Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head-Neck Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, 249203, India

    Saurabh Varshney

  3. Department of Community and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, 249203, India

    Pradeep Aggarwal

  4. College of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Jodhpur, 342001, India

    Suresh Sharma

  5. All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, 249203, India

    Narendra Kumar

Authors
  1. Saurabh Varshney
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  2. Sumeet Angral
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Contributions

SV: Conception, Design, Supervision, Funding, Material collection, Data collection and/or processing, Analysis and/or interpretation, Literature review, Writing, Critical review. SA: Design, Material collection, Data collection and/or processing, Analysis and/or interpretation, Literature review, Writing. PA: Conception, Design, Supervision, Analysis and/or interpretation, Critical review. SS: Conception, Design, Supervision, Analysis and/or interpretation, Critical review. NK: Design, Material collection, Data collection and/or processing, Analysis and/or interpretation. KSBSS: Design, Data collection and/or processing, Analysis and/or interpretation. PA: Design, Data collection and/or processing, Analysis and/or interpretation.

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Correspondence to Saurabh Varshney.

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Varshney, S., Angral, S., Aggarwal, P. et al. Effect of Electromagnetic Radiation from Mobile Phones on Auditory Brainstem Response. Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 75 (Suppl 1), 380–392 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12070-022-03384-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12070-022-03384-8

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