EMF Health-effects Research

Non-linear analysis of the electroencephalogram for detecting effects of low-level electromagnetic fields,

Bachmann M, Kalda J, Lass J, Tuulik V, Säkki M, Hinrikus H,

Med Biol Eng Comput, 43(1):142-149, 2005


The study compared traditional spectral analysis and a new scale-invariant method, the analysis of the length distribution of low-variability periods (LDLVPs), to distinguish between electro-encephalogram (EEG) signals with and without a weak stressor, a low-level modulated microwave field.

During the experiment, 23 healthy volunteers were exposed to a microwave (450 MHz) of 7 Hz frequency on-off modulation. The field power density at the scalp was 0.16 mW cm2.

The experimental protocol consisted of ten cycles of repetitive microwave exposure. Signals from frontal EEG channels FP1 and FP2 were analysed.

Smooth power spectrum and length distribution curves of low-variability periods, as well as probability distribution close to normal, confirmed that stationarity of the EEG signal during recordings was achieved. The quantitative measure of LDLVPs provided a significant detection of the effect of the stressor for the six subjects exposed to the microwave field but for none of the sham recordings.

The spectral analysis revealed a significant result for one subject only. A significant effect of the exposure to the EEG signal was detected in 25% of subjects, with microwave exposure increasing EEG variability. The effect was not detectable by power spectral measures.



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