14 DAY TRIAL // This is the second technological addiction of today's people, after the Internet. But experts warn that using a mobile phone for over an hour daily could induce hearing damage. Research reveals that persons who regularly employ their mobile for over an hour a day experience hearing impairment, and it is especially difficult to distinguish words starting with the letters s, f, h, t and z.
The result of this study is extremely worrying as in some countries the number of mobile phones overcomes that of the people. E.g., in UK there are 70 million handsets, from which a third of all calls are made.
The investigation compared the hearing capacity of 100 mobile phone users, 18 to 25 years old, with that of 50 subjects who did not employ mobiles, finding a connection between long-term regular usage and hearing damage.
The problem was clear for the right ear, to which most people hold their phone. High-frequency sounds, fitting the letters s, f, h, t and z, were most likely to be difficult to distinguish and making the difference between hill, fill and till resulted tricky.
"It is possible radiation from longterm mobile use damages the inner ear." said researcher Dr Naresh Panda, a ear, nose and throat specialist from India.
"Early warning signs may include a warm feeling in the ear, ringing in the ear or a feeling it is clogged up. The small number of people studied means more research is needed to confirm the link. Our intention is not to scare the public. We need to study a larger number of patients. We should educate the public only to use them when necessary," he added.
The Mobile Operators Association, representing Britain's mobile phone companies, stated that independent scientific reviews made worldwide had "consistently concluded that the weight of scientific evidence to date suggests that exposure to radiowaves from mobile phone handsets and base stations does not cause adverse health effects".
A recent study into mobile phone safety made in UK did not find any short-term harm to the adult brain, but a "very slight hint" of an increased risk of some kinds of brain tumor in the case of those who had used mobiles for over ten years.