A dosimeter for assessment of exposures to ELF fields

Abstract

There are currently no biological indicators of electromagnetic field exposure to aid investigation of the biological effects of ELF fields, but this hiatus is partly compensated for by the ease with which the external fields can be measured. The subject of this report is a small electronic instrument that can log electric-, magnetic-, and transient-field intensities of individual subjects for a duration of two weeks, thus allowing exposure to be assessed in considerable detail. A preliminary survey conducted with the instrument has shown clear differences in domestic and occupational exposures of specific groups. Simple analytical models can be fitted to the field-exposure data by adjusting a few parameters such as current, intensity, and distance. Such modeling may be increasingly useful as the data base on exposures expands.