Ear Temperature Increase Produced by Cellular Phones Under Extreme Exposure Conditions

• Published in: IEEE transactions on microwave theory and techniques Vol. 60; no. 6; pp. 1728 - 1734
• Main Author: De Santis, V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.06.2012; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Biological effects of electromagnetic radiations; Cell phones; Cellular; Cellular phones; Computational modeling; Dirichlet problem; Ear; Equipments and installations; Exact sciences and technology; FDTD method; Heating; infrared thermal imaging; Maximum power; Mobile radiocommunication systems; Numerical models; Numerical prediction; Organs; Radiocommunications; RF thermal dosimetry; Solid modeling; Telecommunications; Telecommunications and information theory; Telephones; Temperature measurement; Mobile phone; infrared thermal imaging; Wireless telecommunication; Numerical method; Boundary condition; Convection; Geometrical model; RF thermal dosimetry; FDTD method; Elevation; Dirichlet problem; Dosimetry; Biological effect; Thermography; Mobile radiocommunication; Cellular radio; Thermal behavior; cellular phones; Finite difference time-domain analysis; Biological effects of electromagnetic radiations; Electromagnetic wave; Boundary value problem; External ear; Numerical simulation; Thermal analysis; Thermal imaging; Finite difference method
• ISSN: 0018-9480; 1557-9670
• DOI: 10.1109/TMTT.2012.2189229

This paper deals with the numerical prediction of temperature increase in the inner ear of subjects exposed to the electromagnetic (EM) radiation of conventional cellular phones. Attention has focused on the geometrical model of the internal ear organs and on including the intrinsic heating of the phone in the numerical thermal analysis. To this aim, infrared (IR) thermographic data have been used as time-variant Dirichlet boundary conditions (BCs) on the touching ear-phone boundary, while new convective BCs are applied on the cells not in contact. Numerical results, obtained by a finite difference (FD) procedure, showed a maximum temperature increase of about 4°C on the external ear, although significant thermal elevations were not observed in the most sensitive internal organs. These temperature rises are obtained under extreme exposure conditions, i.e., when forcing the phone at the maximum power of 250 mW for 30 min.