The study aimed to replicate results of previous studies that suggest that exposure to mobile phones can affect neural activity, particularly in response to auditory stimuli.
Participants were fitted with the EEG recording apparatus and seated in a comfortable chair 1.5 m in front of a computermonitor.
Setup
A mobile phone was mounted over the temporal region (right or left side for half of the particpants) comparable to normal use (in ''touch'' position; FCC 2001 guidelines) using a plastic cradle-like apparatus. The handset's audio circuitry was disabled to avoid acoustic cues about the status of the phone. Additionally, padding was placed between the handset and its leather casing to silence buzzing sounds coming from the circuitry and to insulate against heat generated by the battery.
A first 21-min experimental period of sham exposure was followed, after 10 min of resting, by another 21-min period of exposure or sham exposure. A double-blind, pseudorandom, counterbalanced, crossover design was employed where subjects attended two sessions 1 week apart.
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Australia
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