First of all, the whole thing sounds very practical: With wireless headphones, we don’t have to spend hours untangling our headphone cables. Modern hearing aids are barely visible and can even be connected to the mobile phone or tablet via apps. However, all these advantages are countered by numerous scientists urgently warning of the harm to health potentially caused by this technology.

What exactly is Bluetooth?

Basically, Bluetooth is a radio standard that enables devices to transmit data wirelessly over short distances. Bluetooth technology is used in wireless keyboards, wireless printers, wireless headphones and modern hearing aids. There are three classes of transmitting power for Bluetooth – these allowing different ranges depending on other parameters:

• Class 1: Transmitting power up to 1.0 milliwatt for ranges at close range up to 10 metres
• Class 2: Transmitting power up to 2.5 milliwatts for ranges up to several 10 metres
• Class 3: Transmitting power up to 100 milliwatts for ranges of 100 metres and more

Is Bluetooth hazardous to health?

The Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) refers to the so-called Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) for assessing the health risk when talking about Bluetooth. SAR describes how much radiation the human body tissue absorbs. To protect health, the BfS has defined the following maximum values based on SAR:

• 0.08 watts per kilogram (W/kg) averaged over the whole body
• 2 W/kg locally averaged over body parts, for example in the head.

According to the BfS, no adverse health effects on humans can be detected if the recommended maximum values are observed. However, an often criticised problem of these limits is that they are based on heating of the surrounding tissue (similar to mobile phones and smartphones). But this ignores electromagnetic pulses – short bursts of electromagnetic energy that help wireless devices communicate.

In 2018, Martin L. Pall, Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry at Washington State University, warned about the health damage caused by WLAN radiation in an article on ScienceDirect.org. In it, he also addressed the topic of electromagnetic impulses and their influence on biological processes:
“We have studies repeatedly revealing how pulsed fields exhibit significantly greater biological activity than non-pulsed electromagnetic fields of the same intensity in most cases.”

Are there any studies on the effects of Bluetooth radiation?

In March 2019, an international appeal caused an uproar: In it, 250 scientists from over 40 countries called on the United Nations (UN) and World Health Organization (WHO) to protect against non-ionising electromagnetic fields (EMF). "Numerous recent scientific publications have shown that EMFs harm living organisms far below most internationally and nationally applicable limits,” it states.

The appeal also includes an urgent warning against devices that emit high-frequency radiation via WLAN, Bluetooth or mobile data. Among the possible harms listed are an increased risk of cancer, genetic damage, neurological disorders and negative effects on people’s general well-being.

The signatories of the appeal include Jerry Philips, Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. He considers the use of wireless headphones to be alarming: “I find it worrying that AirPods are placed directly in the ear canal, exposing the tissues in the head area to relatively high levels of radio frequency radiation,” the US magazine medium quotes him as saying.

Already reacting to this worrying news back in 2018, memon developed the memonizerEARPHONE especially for Apple AirPods. In response to numerous customer requests, the memonizerHEARING AID has also been available for hearing aids since July 2019 and since 2021 the memonizerHEADSET. All three products compensate for the negative effects of electrosmog caused by Bluetooth radiation.

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List of sources:

• Federal Office for Radiation Protection – Info Sheet: Voice and Data Transmission by Radio: Bluetooth and WLAN
  
• Science.org – Wi-Fi is an important threat to human health
  
• emfscientist.org – International Appeal
  
• elemental.medium.com – Are AirPods and Other Bluetooth Headphones Safe?
  
• emfacademy.com – AirPod Headaches – Everything You Should Know