Seems they had a customer bring this to their attention the other day. He complained that his pacemaker was misbehaving and he seemed to think that the all motors and stuff in the booth was causing the trouble.
I want to give this question serious consideraton. After all we wouldn't want to cause harm to our customers. Still, I am thinking that as long as somebody isn't sitting right underneath the projection port there should be no problems. By the time you move down into the middle of the auditorium, I would imagine that the level of interference would be no more intense than one would experience while walking around the shopping mall that this theatre is attached to.
Here's MY half-baked theory:
If a man has a pacemaker, statistically speaking, he's probably old enough to have been through WWII. IF that were the case, then it's possible that he may have been watching Pearl Harbor and was experiencing an emotional reaction. I can tell you that if I had been in the war, I might have the same reaction. I would think that my first reaction would be to blame it on the pacemaker.
I know that pacemakers sometimes can't compensate for times when somebody gets too excited, but I don't know enough about them (especially modern ones) to understand these kinds of things.
What's the consensus here?
"Sufficiently high levels of RF energy can interfere with other electronic equipment [12]. This problem is more likely to occur with pulsed energy, which characterizes
digital cellular telephones. Studies have shown that handheld cellular phones can affect the operation of heart pacemakers or defibrillators if the phone is placed
directly over the device [12,13], and there have been reports of interference between cell phones and hearing aids. Individuals with pacemakers, implantable
defibrillators, or other body-mounted medical electronic devices, should consult with their physician and/or the phone manufacturer to determine what precautions, if
any, should be taken."
http://www.lessemf.com/rf.html
Ruggera PS, Elder RL. Electromagnetic Radiation Interference with Cardiac Pacemakers. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare; 1971.
http://www.ganashakti.com/old/2000/000911/feature0.htm
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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion
Customers with pacemakers shouldn't stand right next to high powered speakers. Problems from FM transmitters in the hearing impared system are unlikely.