Personal dose equivalent

The operational dose quantity personal dose equivalent (H_p(d)) is defined as the equivalent dose in soft tissue at a suitable depth under a specified point on the body. The corresponding unit is sievert (Sv). It turns out that the personal dose equivalent H_p(10) is a good estimator of the effective dose.

It remains unclear what the ICRP means by a suitable depth and a specified point. Although the personal dose equivalent is explicitly defined for the human body, we will still have to use a phantom for measurements and calculations. In doing so, d indicates the depth in mm in the ICRU-sphere.

Related quantities

• absorbed dose
• ambient dose equivalent
• collective effective dose
• committed effective dose
• committed equivalent dose
• directional dose equivalent
• effective dose
• equivalent dose
• exposure
• irradiation geometry
• kerma
• radiation weighting factor
• tissue weighting factor