Noise, Including Industrial Wind Turbines, and Adverse Health Effects
Author: A brief overview of references, excerpted from work compiled by Brett Horner World Health Organization recognizes annoyance and sleep disturbance as adverse health effects. Regarding noise induced annoyance the US Environmental Protection Agency states “‘annoyance’ can have major consequences, primarily to one’s overall health.” … Noise is an environmental stressor which can cause stress-related adverse health effects. “The subjective experience of noise stress can, through central nervous processes, lead to an inadequate neuro-endocrine reaction and finally lead to regulatory diseases.” … Difficulty falling asleep constitutes sleep disturbance which can have serious consequences. Sleep disturbance is acknowledged to be an adverse health effect. … It is widely affirmed that exposure to audible low frequency noise can cause adverse health effects in humans. Low frequency noise can cause “immense suffering to those who are unfortunate to be sensitive to low frequency noise and who plead for recognition of their circumstances.” … “Noise is multidimensional. A one dimensional view of noise is the A – weighting, which considers only levels and neglects frequencies. Another one-dimensional view is to consider only frequencies and neglect levels. Developing the dimensions further, two dimensions include both frequency and level (the spectrum), three dimensions adds in the time variations of the noise, whilst higher dimensions include subjective response.” …
