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Quantities & units

Body voltage

Millivolts induced on a person by nearby power-frequency electric fields, measured against a ground reference; the metric building biologists use to judge bedroom wiring.

Symbol USI unit V

Last verified 12 August 2026.

Also searched as: body voltage measurement, mV body voltage

Symbol
U
SI unit
V
Units in use
V, mV

What it measures

Capacitive coupling between household wiring and the body. It is a proxy for the local AC electric field and depends strongly on grounding method, so readings are only comparable when the protocol is identical.

Units

Multiplier to the SI unit (V).

V (volt)
1 V = 1 V
mV (millivolt)
1 mV = 0.001 V

Related records

  • Building Biology SBM-2024 AC electric field bands

    Sleeping-area grades with ground reference: below 1 V/m no anomaly, 1–5 weak, 5–50 strong, above 50 V/m extreme; body voltage below 10 mV is 'no anomaly'.

    Exposure limits

  • Body-voltage measurement

    The building-biology method for grading a sleeping area's AC electric field: a high-impedance millivoltmeter, a hand electrode, and a documented ground reference.

    Measurement protocols

Sources

  1. sbm-2024 Building Biology Evaluation Guidelines for Sleeping Areas (SBM-2024) — Institut für Baubiologie + Nachhaltigkeit (IBN), 2024. ngo, link checked 2026-08-12.

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