I recently listened to a podcast where one of the topics touched on ways to reduce one’s EMF radiation exposure.
I’m exploring this now mainly for good health practices, but I suppose secondarily for the benefit for audio as my devices (phone, tablet, router) are in close proximity to the stereo.
Some tips I’ve read and heard tonight were:
Put cell phone in airplane mode when possible.
Turn off router at bedtime.
Keep cell phone at least 4 feet away while sleeping.
What are some practices that members might share that have to do with using these devices and that impact one’s health and possibly good listening?
If you get a radio frequency scanner you might find that you go totally wired in your home but are still flooded with sources beyond your control. Especially if you are in an urban area or a flat.
I’m living in the second apartment with a commercial mobile transmitter on the roof above our living room.
In general I switch to low power 5Ghz wi-fi and wired connections for anything that is not handheld. But my last sweep showed powerful flooding from at least 30 unknown radio sources that were fairly constant 24/7.
The desert island approach might be your only option.
The background electromagnetic field exposure does tend to be low in the home, and in many parts of the world is fairly well regulated… but the regulations are not perfect…
These are the considerations I would recommend, especially with children.
Remove all wifi devices from near the bed.
Limit ipad, tablet, laptop time
If using a laptop, DO NOT use it on your lap.
Ensure GSM, cellular and DECT phones are not near the bed.
Do not use Power Line Adapter or equivalent in your home (networking over mains)
Keep wifi access points out of bedrooms.
Ensure your microwave is not leaking and the door EM seal is still good.
Kind of all common sense really when you think about it…
There are some pluses, older CRT displays would emit radiation, and these are replaced by more benign panel displays.
But things not to do is switch off broadband routers at night etc… this may interfere with line performance management and could cause significant performance issues over time… most quality wifi routers will have options to disable wifi at certain parts of the day if you need to. It’s the wifi rather than physical network connectivity that is the issue.
Remember the (Near field) EM field strength exponentially decays away from source, and the higher the frequency the shorter distance it decays… so the key thing is avoiding close proximity. Power Line Adapter radiation can eminate from all connected mains devices, like bedside lamps and alarm clock radios … and is of a very wide bandwidth in nature… hence why best avoided in your home.
Far field radiation, ie radio, is a different proposition and generally I would not be too concerned with that in the home, it’s the near field radiation that we should be mindful of in our home.
There are various EM field strength meters now that are relatively affordable such as
I think it’s been asked before. Smart meters. Most of us have them with a remote wifi smart reader device - does that add any emf throughout the home ? Can it cause a harmful effect on mains quality for our hifi ?
Thanks Simon and others for all of this great information. I’ll start reconsidering these things.
If I may:
Are cell; wifi; and Bluetooth are of similar concern for what we are talking about?
Also, the podcast mentioned (if I understood correctly) that cell phone tower ‘strength’ in Europe is about half of what it is in the US and Canada. And that all this ‘power’ really isn’t needed for effective cell phone usage. But the participants were taking a particular stance if you know what I mean. Then, they mentioned 5G and the huge satellite coverage needed for this system and possible health implications.
No…
Cell has the greatest field strength, wifi is a long way down, and uses generally higher frequencies, and BlueTooth is extremely low power and largely benign and was designed for personal network… but today there are different power classes for Bluetooth with class 4 and class 3 being the most benign… and class 3 being optimum for personal networks with a range of upto a metre with a max ERP of 0.001 Watts.
Other extremely low power networks include Zigbee… used in home automation… and new Naim remote controls
