A Mobile Future
Is hands-free the answer?
The idea behind hands-free sets is simple. The strength of radio wave radiation decreases rapidly with distance from the handset. Exposure from a mobile phone even ten centimetres from your head is far lower than if the headset is right against your ear.
Reports of up to a 95% reduction in exposure suggest that hands-free sets are effective. But another study by the Consumers Association described an increase in radiation reaching the user when they used a hands-free kit.
Hands-free mobile kit
They claimed the ear-piece cable of the hands-free kit acted as an aerial, directing more radiowave into the user's ear. But this only happens when the phone is in a precise position and the cable is a specific length.
Shields are an alternative to hands-free kits. Independent tests have supported claims that they can protest users from some radio waves.