We conducted a survey of over 5,000 telephone users who were customers
of one large cellular telephone company covering four major geographi
cal areas. Our primary goal was to assess the utility of ascertaining
information on telephone use and type from telephone company records.
We compared information from 3,949 respondents with corresponding data
from company billing records. We found that 48% of the account holder
s were sole users, and 69% were the primary user, meaning that they ac
counted fur at least 75% of the use. Respondent reports of amount of t
elephone use were highly correlated with data on the billing record (r
= 0.74). Respondent reports of telephone type were similarly correlat
ed with data from the manufacturer (r = 0.92). We also inquired about
telephone holding patterns, since these have implications for exposure
. Most users reported favoring one side of the head when using the tel
ephone, but the side of the head used was not strongly associated with
handedness.