Effect of Prolonged Use of Mobile Phone on Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials

Objectives: Mobile phones are being widely used throughout the world. Electromagnetic waves generated from mobile phones have raised concerns as these may have adverse effects on human auditory system owing to the daily use of mobile phones. The purpose of current study was to evaluate the effects of long term mobile phone usage on auditory brainstem evoked responses (ABR). Materials and Methods: A retrospective, cross-sectional, case control study was carried out in a tertiary care hospital. Total 100 healthy subjects aged 18 to 30 years of both the genders were selected, out of which 67 subjects were long-term GSM mobile phone users (using mobile phone for more than 1 year) and 33 were controls who were mobile phone non users. Both the groups were investigated for ABR and changes were studied in both the ears of cases and controls to ascertain the effects of electromagnetic exposure. Results: No significant difference (p>0.05) was found in latencies, interpeak latencies and amplitudes of ABR waves between cases and controls. Conclusion: Our study shows that long term usage of mobile phones does not affect propagation of electrical stimuli along the auditory nerve to auditory brainstem centres.