title: Novel exposure units for at-home personalized testing of electromagnetic sensibility.
abstract: Previous experimental studies on electromagnetic hypersensitivity have been criticized regarding inflexibility of choice of exposure and of study locations. We developed and tested novel portable exposure units that can generate different output levels of various extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF; 50 Hz field plus harmonics) and radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF). Testing was done with a group of healthy volunteers (n = 25 for 5 ELF-MF and n = 25 for 5 RF-EMF signals) to assess if units were indeed able to produce double-blind exposure conditions. Results substantiated that double-blind conditions were met; on average participants scored 50.6% of conditions correct on the ELF-MF, and 50.0% on the RF-EMF unit, which corresponds to guessing probability. No cues as to exposure conditions were reported. We aim to use these units in a future experiment with subjects who wish to test their personal hypothesis of being able to sense or experience when being exposed to EMF. The new units allow for a high degree of flexibility regarding choice of applied electromagnetic signal, output power level and location (at home or another environment of subjects' choosing).
authors.affiliation: Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.|Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Anke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Huss
authors.affiliation: IT'IS Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murbach
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Public Health Service of Amsterdam (GGD), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Imke
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: van Moorselaar
authors.affiliation: IT'IS Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kuster
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Public Health Service of Amsterdam (GGD), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: van Strien
authors.affiliation: Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kromhout
authors.affiliation: Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.|Julius Centre for Public Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Roel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vermeulen
authors.affiliation: Department of General Practice and Elderly Care Medicine, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Pauline
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Slottje
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000069079:Radiation Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011846:Radio Waves; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: electromagnetic hypersensitivity; electromagnetic sensibility; radiofrequency electromagnetic fields