Assessment of Electromagnetic Field Absorption in Human Reproductive Organs from Smartphones Positioned Near the Pelvic Region

Abstract

Current radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) safety assessments predominantly focus on cranial exposure, while organ-specific dosimetry of the pelvic region under realistic smartphone body-contact conditions remains insufficiently characterised. This limitation constrains evidence-based evaluation of potential reproductive exposure during prolonged pocket storage. This study quantifies localised RF energy absorption in male and female reproductive organs using anatomically realistic voxel-based pelvic models integrated within a finite-difference time-domain computational framework. A multi-band smartphone antenna (900, 1800, 2600, and 3500 MHz) was simulated under three placement scenarios (0 mm, 5 mm, 10 mm separation), with peak spatial specific absorption rate calculated using both 1 g and 10 g averaging schemes. Thermal response was estimated using steady-state bioheat modelling. Zero-distance contact at 900 MHz produced maximum localised SAR values of 1.42 W/kg in the testes and 1.18 W/kg in the ovaries. Increasing separation to 10 mm reduced peak organ SAR by approximately 35–40 %. Higher frequencies demonstrated predominantly superficial energy deposition. Predicted temperature elevations remained below 0.25 °C across all tissues. Although values remained within international regulatory limits, near-field proximity substantially influenced organ-level exposure. These findings provide the first comparative high-resolution pelvic dosimetric analysis across gender under realistic contact scenarios and establish quantitative evidence to inform body-contact-aware compliance testing, smartphone design optimisation, and reproductive health risk assessment frameworks.