Electric current perception of the general population including children and the elderly

Although the 50 Hz electric current perception threshold is a key parameter for limiting electric touch currents in electrical technology and for limiting indirect effects of external electromagnetic fields, the data available mainly reflect men's perception ability; with only sparse data for women and almost none for children or the elderly. Measurements with 240 children aged 9 - 16 years, and 123 elderly people, allow this gap of knowledge to be filled. Taking into account the demographic age distribution, it was possible to generate a probability distribution representing the perception ability of the overall general population, and thus to provide a more established basis for deriving safety limits. The results show that the existing limit values for electric touch currents are considerably too high if compared with results derived from the new data with the same criteria. On the other hand, it appeared that children do not exhibit such a high sensitivity to electricity as assumed to date. Therefore, former rule-of-thumb estimates to account for higher sensitivities of children lie on the safe side. The presented assessment of the general population's electric current perception ability should stimulate a critical review of the existing regulations.