Department of Rehabilitative Physioltherapy, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Medical University, Xi'an, China.
Hospital of No. 95007 Unit of PLA, Guangzhou, China.
Front Public Health. 2023 Mar 23;11:1138118. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1138118. eCollection 2023.
Both electromagnetic radiation (EMR) and low-frequency noise (LFN) are widespread and influential environmental factors, and operators are inevitably exposed to both EMR and LFN within a complex exposure environment. The potential adverse effects of such exposure on human health must be considered seriously. This study aimed to investigate the effects of EMR and LFN on cognitive function as well as their interaction effect, which remain unclear.
Sixty young male college students were randomly grouped and experiments were conducted with a 2 × 2 factorial design in a shielded chamber. Mental workload (MWL) levels of the study subjects were measured and assessed using the NASA-task load index (TLX) subjective scale, an n-back task paradigm, and the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) imaging technique.
For the 3-back task, the NASA-TLX subjective scale revealed a statistically significant main effect of LFN intensity, which enhanced the subjects' MWL level ( = 8.716, < 0.01). Behavioral performance revealed that EMR intensity (430.1357 MHz, 10.75 W/m) and LFN intensity (0-200 Hz, 72.9 dB) had a synergistic interaction effect, and the correct response time was statistically significantly prolonged by the combined exposure ( = 4.343, < 0.05). The fNIRS imaging technique revealed a synergistic interaction effect between operational EMR intensity and operational LFN intensity, with statistically significant effects on the activation levels in the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The mean values of DLPFC were significantly increased (L-DLPFC = 5.391, < 0.05, R-DLPFC = 4.222, < 0.05), and the relative concentrations of oxyhemoglobin in the DLPFC were also significantly increased (L-DLPFC = 4.925, < 0.05, R-DLPFC = 9.715, < 0.01).
We found a statistically significant interaction effect between EMR (430.1357 MHz, 10.75 W/m) and LFN (0-200 Hz, 72.9 dB) when simultaneously exposing subjects to both for 30 min. We conclude that exposure to this complex environment can cause a statistically significant increase in the MWL level of operators, and even alterations in their cognitive function.
电磁辐射（EMR）和低频噪声（LFN）都是广泛存在且具有影响力的环境因素，在复杂的暴露环境中，操作人员不可避免地同时受到 EMR 和 LFN 的影响。必须认真考虑这种暴露对人类健康的潜在不利影响。本研究旨在探讨 EMR 和 LFN 对认知功能的影响及其相互作用，目前这方面的研究尚不清楚。
将 60 名年轻男性大学生随机分组，在屏蔽室内采用 2×2 析因设计进行实验。使用 NASA 任务负荷指数（TLX）主观量表、n 回任务范式和功能近红外光谱（fNIRS）成像技术测量和评估研究对象的精神工作负荷（MWL）水平。
在 3 回任务中，NASA-TLX 主观量表显示 LFN 强度具有统计学显著的主效应，增加了受试者的 MWL 水平（ = 8.716， < 0.01）。行为表现表明，EMR 强度（430.1357 MHz，10.75 W/m）和 LFN 强度（0-200 Hz，72.9 dB）具有协同交互作用，联合暴露使正确响应时间显著延长（ = 4.343， < 0.05）。fNIRS 成像技术显示，操作 EMR 强度与操作 LFN 强度之间存在协同交互作用，对左、右背外侧前额叶皮层（DLPFC）的激活水平有统计学显著影响。DLPFC 的平均值明显升高（L-DLPFC = 5.391， < 0.05，R-DLPFC = 4.222， < 0.05），DLPFC 中氧合血红蛋白的相对浓度也明显升高（L-DLPFC = 4.925， < 0.05，R-DLPFC = 9.715， < 0.01）。
当同时暴露于 EMR（430.1357 MHz，10.75 W/m）和 LFN（0-200 Hz，72.9 dB）30 分钟时，我们发现两者之间存在统计学显著的交互作用。我们得出的结论是，暴露于这种复杂环境会导致操作人员的 MWL 水平显著升高，甚至导致认知功能发生变化。
