Sensitivity of the Human Eye to Power Frequency Electric Fields

Abstract

Reports spanning more than a century have shown that tissues associated with the eye are able to respond to local electric fields with impressions of light called electrophosphenes. A finite element analysis of the field distributions in the head near the receptors shows that the 60 Hz threshold for perception of electrophosphenes is approximately 1 V/m. Thus, tissues associated with the eye appear to be among the most sensitive to power frequency electric fields in the human body.