Skin nerve stimulation caused by low frequency electric field.

Abstract

The most known result of the influence of the VLF and LF electric fields on a human being is pain due to stimulation of the skin nerves. The threshold of nerve stimulation is related to a value of electric current flowing across a small area of the skin being in contact with the surface of a metallic object. It is shown in this paper that the following set of important parameters corresponds to fingertip threshold perception of the current which from the value of 0.5 mA at 1 kHz increases linearly up to the value of 50 mA at 100 kHz: charge transported across the skin during one duty cycle (0.225 microC), product of the voltage drop on the skin and the surface of the contact electrode (1 mVm2), product of the power dissipated in the skin under the contact electrode and the surface of the contact electrode (0.5 microW m2), electric field intensity of vertical polarization (1.6 kV/m).