Protection Vest for PM??

Hi all
My 17 yr old son had a PM fitted 2 years ago for bradycardia. It is his dream to follow a career in sound engineering. Having done some research this is a highly electrical/magnetic environment. Does anyone know if there is a reliable protective vest available on the market?? it would have to be something tailor made.
Many thanks

4 Comments

EMF & RFI

by Theknotguy - 2015-02-01 01:02:44

I've asked several people on the forum who have asked questions about RFI and EMF to give us a post question report on what they've found - to no avail. Apparently things go well for them so they see no need to enlighten anyone else. I'll take another stab at this and let the forum snipers take potshots at me if I get something wrong.

First, I'd encourage your son to go into sound engineering. Most of the voltages are in the lower range so the EMF field isn't that big. Exception being in the very big speakers used at stadiums which may have the big magnets. But, once again, I don't know how big a magnetic field is needed to cause problems with a PM. Sound engineering has a very big range of options going from a small garage studio up to units big enough for a 150,000 person stadium. So doing an across-the-board limit to something he'd like to do may not be necessary. I don't mind being around electrical equipment, but I don't have any interest in wiring a stadium.

The second is most of the cable is shielded. You don't want feedback going on with sound systems and the way to prevent that is with shielded cable. Once the cable is shielded, the EMF field generated is almost nonexistent and wouldn't bother a PM. Again, since it's DC voltage it's nowhere in the range of 110/220 volts AC. I can pick up a 30 volt DC power wire as well as a 110 volt and 220 volt power wire with no effects to my PM. Didn't think a thing about it when I was cleaning the woodshop and picked up a 220 volt power line the other day. No problems either.

Had a discussion with an electrician a couple years back. He had gotten a PM. Was going crazy from sitting around and went back to work. Just followed the standard safety rules for being an electrician and wasn't having any problems.

Medtronic has a PDF about how close you can get your PM to an EMF field. Usually it's no closer than 6 inches. For most electric motors that means you'd almost have to be hugging the motor while it is running for it to cause any problems. I regularly work around 220 volt motors at the woodshop with no problems. Haven't gotten any closer than 6 inches while running, but who would want to hug a table saw anyway? I'll include the Medtronic link.

Third, RFI- As I've said many times before, I travel regularly by two TV towers broadcasting at a 60 mile radius. I'm less than 600 feet from the towers as I go by. The towers are broadcasting at the thousands of watts power. No ill effects on my PM. Don't feel a thing. Zilch, nada, nichts, nothing. Two reasons, 1) towers aren't broadcasting on the frequency my PM is using for communications, 2) the clothing and skin over the PM are acting as an effective shield. Same for your son, unless he's being blasted with the same RFI frequency used for PM communications, shouldn't be a problem. For the nay-sayers, yes I'm in a car. Yes it shields the PM from the effects of the RFI. But I've gone within 300 feet of the towers with the window open with my arm hanging outside enjoying the warm weather. At that time I was being blasted with the full effects of the RFI - still felt nothing.

As for lead vests.... Do they stop EMF fields? Not sure if they do. They can stop radiation such as X-rays and probably some other RFI stuff, but I don't think they are effective as you think. Otherwise you'd see them all over the place, but you don't. So the discomfort of wearing them probably outweighs any benefits unless you are an X-ray tech. Even then the X-ray techs don't wear the vests all the time. Oh, and as for X-rays, they don't bother the PM either. They had to do a running X-ray scan on me because of damage from being intubated. They were watching my swallowing. All the techs wore vests - I only had something on my lower half. No one was concerned about my PM and no problems.

Now for the nay sayers. Is it possible for someone to be messing around with sound equipment and find the RFI that will affect the PM? Yep, sure is. Is it possible the magnets on the big speakers will cause problems with the PM? Yep, sure is. Is it possible for you son to pick up a live 110 or 220 volt line? Yep, sure is.

My argument is that you visit a sound studio, see if your son has any problems. If not, tell him it's full speed ahead. It's better for him to find out and make his own limitations than find out you prevented him from doing something he really wanted just because of your fears.

Medtronic link: http://www.medtronic.com/wcm/groups/mdtcom_sg/@mdt/@crdm/documents/documents/electromagnetic-compatibility.pdf

As a working musician...

by MelodyMarch - 2015-02-01 09:02:57

With a pacemaker, your son really doesn't have much to worry about. I am next to big speakers and wireless systems all the time and I have no issues.

The only thing I would worry about with a career in sound engineering is hearing loss. The levels they have for some of these concerts is excessive!

They only warn about these things because in the past they would be affected. Now pacers are so well shielded that the only things you need to worry about are MRI's (and even then if you have an MRI compatible one you don't) and a atomic bomb going off.

Vests to protect against...

by donr - 2015-02-01 12:02:39

...electrical & magnetic fields are difficult to produce.

It takes a thing called a "Faraday Cage " to totally contain/exclude them. That is a very highly conductive screen w/ few gaps or joints. Needs to be silver/copper/gold/aluminum to do the job. getting the flexibility is tough - & expensive.

He can carve out a career in those fields w/ out worrying about the PM. All he has to do is steer clear of super magnets near the device or extremely high magnetic fields - like around MRI machines.

Let me give you a PRACTICAL benchmark for magnetic field strength that will affect a PM: 30 Amps flowing through a 240 Volt cable about 4-6 inches from the device. I know because I experienced that & it darned near knocked me off a ladder, it was such a surprise.

Encourage him to try it - he'll find ways to avoid environments that affect his PM.

I do not know your son, but I suspect, as Sparrow alluded to, that you are more concerned than he is.

At 17, they are going to live forever & are indestructible. Why do you think soldiers are recruited from the young?

Google the lyrics to a Mary Hopkin (Nope, there really isn't an "S" on it) song from the late 1970-80's "Those Were the Days, My Friend" then you will understand.

Donr

Thanks

by maria61 - 2015-02-02 03:02:54

Thanks everyone for your imput, yes I am a bit of a mother hen, and I am slowly learning to take a step back. It was a difficult period when he was ill, as you all know.

His life has turned around 100% since his PM...the best thing that has ever happened to him. So you have all put my mind at ease. thanks again for your words of advice and encouragement.

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