People with Implants: A Neglected Population by EM Exposure Regulation?

Electromagnetic (EM) safety guidelines and stan-dards are designed to protect both workers and the general public from risks posed by exposures to routine or occupational (i.e. non-medical) EM sources. In this research, we investigate whether people with implants, a growing portion of the popu-lation, are also protected by these guidelines. We review the current limits and restrictions of EM safety standards, and study the local field enhancement around generic implants in average body tissues over a wide range of frequencies from 10 kHz to 1 GHz. Especially at low frequencies, enhancements in the order of 50 dB can be observed. We also exposed a high fidelity human anatomical model with generic implants to a generic electric vehicle wireless charging coil at 85 kHz. One active and one passive implant were considered at 36 charging coil positions, and we observed the basic restrictions of International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) 2010 guidelines at this frequency being exceeded by almost 20 dB. Assessment of the EM safety of low-frequency high-power wireless power transfer systems for persons with conductive implants must be considered carefully.