A sensing element is provided including a magnetic sensor that detects a first magnetic field component, at least one AC-magnetic field generator that applies at least one additional magnetic field component at a given frequency to the magnetic sensor, where the first magnetic field component and the at least one additional magnetic field component are orthogonal to each other, and at least one demodulator using the given frequency to determine a sensitivity of the sensing element respective to the at least one additional magnetic field component. Also, several methods of operating such sensing element are provided.