Understanding the human impact caused by the sound of wind turbines

Abstract

A mystery surrounds the human impact reported by those with wind turbines in their environment. “PubMed” identifies 23 papers for “wind turbine human health.” A dose-response relationship between exposure to sound, annoyance, and sleep disturbance is generally accepted. Self-reporting identified other impacts that commenced or increased with wind turbines operation. Recent articles repeat that no peer-reviewed papers show other links than annoyance and possibly sleep disturbance, and suggest that wind turbine visibility, negative attitudes, fear, or lobby groups cause adverse reporting, but provide no evidence dispelling impacts. Many argue acceptability of annoyance is a social measure set by government. Meantime, the Government of Canada “Wind Turbine Noise and Health Study” presented findings of an association between increasing noise from wind turbines and annoyance, but no found no evidence linking exposure to wind turbine noise to any of the self-reported illnesses, and no association between wind turbine noise and measures of stress, sleep quality, or significant changes in quality of life. Neglected in all of this, those who have been adversely impacted believe no one is listening. This paper takes up their position, to examine other acoustic factors to generate a hypothesis for cause of the human impact.