Resource Library Category: Portugal (7 items)
Documents presented here are not the product of nor are they necessarily endorsed by National Wind Watch. This resource library is provided to assist anyone wishing to research the issue of industrial wind power and the impacts of its development. The information should be evaluated by each reader to come to their own conclusions about the many areas of debate.
Low frequency noise legislation
Source: Alves-Pereira, Mariana; Motylewski, Jersy; Kotlicka, Elzbieta; and Castelo Branco, Nuno
Paper accepted for Inter-noise 2007, 28-31 August, Istanbul, Turkey
Abstract: Legislation regarding low frequency noise (LFN, <500 Hz including infrasound), when existent, is highly deficient. Not only is it expressed in dBA, actually defeating the purpose of evaluating LFN, but no concrete measures are prescribed if excessive LFN is identified. The status quo notion that acoustical phenomena are only harmful when perceived by humans cannot be sustained given current scientific facts. The purpose of this report is to demonstrate just how inadequate legislation is regarding LFN control, and how ubiquitous LFN is in locations common to the general public. Methods. Noise assessments were conducted in homes, clubs, public transportation and common automobiles, in 1/3 octave bands and with a lower limiting frequency of 6.3 Hz, measured in dBLin. Overall average noise levels are reported in both dBA and dBLin. Results. Comparative frequency analysis among acoustic environments that possess the same dBA levels show that it is not scientifically valid to presume the existence of comparable acoustic environments merely based on a dBA level, i.e., equal dBA levels does not mean equal acoustic environments. Neither the dBA nor the dBLin parameter adequately reflect the presence of LFN components. Discussion. LFN is ubiquitous in modern society, and yet it is not adequately legislated. Noise-related studies do not take LFN in account and thus yield results that are deemed controversial, contradictory, and inconclusive. No effort is made to control LFN in the homes, nor in other locations of common use to the general public. The implications of ignoring LFN as an agent of disease for the public health is detrimental to us all as a human society, and a nightmare for future generations.
Download original document: “Low frequency noise legislation”
Public health and noise exposure
Source: Alves-Pereira, Mariana; and Castelo Branco, Nuno
Paper accepted for Inter-noise 2007, 28-31 August, Istanbul, Turkey
Abstract: Noise exposure is known to cause hearing loss and a variety of disturbances, such as annoyance, hypertension and loss of sleep. It is generally accepted that these situations are caused by the acoustical events processed by the auditory system. However, there are acoustical events that are not necessarily processed by the auditory system, but that nevertheless cause harm. Infrasound and low frequency noise (ILFN, <500Hz) are acoustical phenomena that can impact the human body causing irreversible organic damage to the organism, but that do not cause classical hearing impairment. Acoustical environments are normally composed of all types of acoustical events: those that are processed by the auditory system, and those that are not. It is generally assumed that acoustical phenomena not captured by the human auditory system are not harmful. This is reflected by current noise assessment procedures that merely require the quantification of the acoustical phenomena that are audible to human hearing (hence the dBA unit). Thus, studies investigating the effects of noise exposure on public health that do not take into account the entire spectrum of acoustical energy are misleading and may, in fact, be scientifically unsound. Two cases of in-home ILFN are described [one of them near 4 wind turbines].
Download original document: “Public health and noise exposure”
Industrial Wind Turbines, Infrasound and Vibro-Acoustic Disease (VAD)
Source: Alves-Pereira, Mariana; and Castelo Branco, Nuno
Press Release, May 31, 2007
Professor Mariana Alves-Pereira, School of Health Sciences (ERISA), Lusofona University, Portugal, and Department of Environmental Sciences & Engineering, New University of Lisbon, Portugal
Nuno Castelo Branco, MD, Surgical Pathologist, President, Scientific Board, Center for Human Performance (CPH)
Excessive exposure to infrasound and low frequency noise (ILFN, defined as all acoustical phenomena occurring at or below the frequency bands of 500 Hz) can cause vibro-acoustic disease (VAD). [1]
Research into VAD has been ongoing since 1980, conducted by a multidisciplinary team of scientists led by pathologist Nuno Castelo Branco, MD.
In March 2007, for the first time, the Portuguese National Center for Occupational Diseases gave 100% professional disability to a 40-year-old flight attendant who had been diagnosed with VAD since 2001. Two other VAD patients also have been given a similar disability status.
Initially, only ILFN-rich occupational environments were investigated. However, over the past several years, many individuals and their families have approached our team because of the ILFN contaminant in their homes. The sources of residential ILFN vary from industrial complexes, to large volume highways, to public transportation systems, etc.
In a case study published in Proceedings of Internoise 2004 (an annual scientific meeting dedicated to all aspects of acoustics), one of the first documented cases of environmental VAD was reported in a family of four, exposed to the ILFN produced by a nearby port grain terminal. [2]
Over the past three years, several families have contacted this team complaining of noise caused by the proximity of industrial wind turbines (windmills). However, only within this past month (April 2007) has this team obtained detailed acoustical measurements within a home surrounded by four recently installed industrial windmills.
This acoustical data was essential in order to compare in-home, windmill-produced acoustical environments with the residential, ILFN-rich environments that are known to be conducive to VAD.
The levels of ILFN inside the windmill-surrounded home are larger than those obtained in the home contaminated by the port grain terminal.
The scientific report on this will be formally presented at Internoise 2007, to be held on 28-31 August in Istanbul, Turkey. [3]
These results irrefutably demonstrate that wind turbines in the proximity of residential areas produce acoustical environments that can lead to the development of VAD in nearby home-dwellers.
In order to protect Public Health, ILFN-producing devices must not be placed in locations that will contaminate residential areas with this agent of disease.
[1] Castelo Branco NAA, Alves-Pereira M. (2004) Vibroacoustic disease. Noise & Health 2004; 6(23): 3-20.
[2] Castelo Branco NAA, Araujo A., Joanaz de Melo J, Alves-Pereira M. (2004) Vibroacoustic disease in a 10-year-old male. Proc. Internoise 2004, Prague, Czech Republic, August 22-25, 2004: No. 634 (7 pages).
[3] www.internoise2007.org.tr
Download original document: “Industrial Wind Turbines, Infrasound and Vibro-Acoustic Disease”
See these authors’ 2004 paper describing vibroacoustic disease here at National Wind Watch.
