Assistive Devices and Pacemakers—What’s the Score?

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man asked,

I am inquiring whether any of your home loop (or similar) systems is reasonably OK for my mother who has a modern pacemaker for her heart? I could place the loop wires 8 feet from the floor. Any advice you can give me will be appreciated.

As far as I know there has never been a problem with assistive devices affecting pacemakers—although some assistive devices carry warnings about not getting them too close to a pacemaker. I’ve even asked assistive device manufacturers, and they tell me they have never had a case where their devices interfered with a pacemaker.

Thus I think it is highly unlikely that loop systems (or other assistive devices) will cause a problem.

With room loop systems, the room loop is typically on the floor or above the ceiling and far enough away to not cause problems. Now, if the room loop wire ran right across her chest and pacemaker, that might be different.

If I had a pacemaker, I sure wouldn’t worry about a loop system upsetting my pacemaker. The loop only puts out a magnetic field—not a radio frequency signal.

I believe assistive devices to be perfectly safe for use near pacemakers—but its possible under certain conditions, with certain assistive devices and with certain people there could be a problem—but like I said, I’ve never heard of one ever occurring.