Resource Documents: Noise (637 items)
Also see NWW press release on noise
Unless indicated otherwise, documents presented here are not the product of nor are they necessarily endorsed by National Wind Watch. These resource documents are 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. The copyrights belong to the sources indicated, and they are reproduced here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Prevalence of wind farm amplitude modulation at long-range residential locations
Author: Hansen, Kristy; Zajamšek, Branko; Catcheside, Peter; and Hansen, Colin
Abstract:
The presence of amplitude modulation (AM) in wind farm noise has been shown to result in increased annoyance. Therefore, it is important to determine how often this characteristic is present at residential locations near a wind farm. This study investigates the prevalence and characteristics of wind farm AM at 9 different residences located near a South Australian wind farm that has been the subject of complaints from local residents. It is shown that an audible indoor low-frequency tone was amplitude modulated at the blade-pass frequency for 20% of the time up to a distance of 2.4 km. The audible AM occurred for a similar percentage of time between wind farm percentage power capacities of 40% and 85%, indicating that it is important that AM analysis is not restricted to high power output conditions only. Although the number of AM events is shown to reduce with distance, audible indoor AM still occurred for 16% of the time at a distance of 3.5 km. At distances of 7.6 and 8.8 km, audible AM was only detected on one occasion. At night-time, audible AM occurred indoors at residences located as far as 3.5 km from the wind farm for up to 22% of the time.
Kristy L. Hansen, Phuc Nguyen, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Tonsley, Australia
Branko Zajamšek, Peter Catcheside, College of Medicine, Flinders University, Bedford Park, Australia
Colin H. Hansen, School of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
Journal of Sound and Vibration
Volume 455, 1 September 2019, Pages 136-149
doi: 10.1016/j.jsv.2019.05.008
Download original document: “Prevalence of wind farm amplitude modulation at long-range residential locations”
Impact of Long-Term Exposure to Wind Turbine Noise on Redemption of Sleep Medication and Antidepressants: A Nationwide Cohort Study
Author: Poulsen, Aslak Harbo; et al.
BACKGROUND: Noise from wind turbines (WTs) is associated with annoyance and, potentially, sleep disturbances.
OBJECTIVES: Our objective was to investigate whether long-term WT noise (WTN) exposure is associated with the redemption of prescriptions for sleep medication and antidepressants.
METHODS: For all Danish dwellings within a radius of 20-WT heights and for 25% of randomly selected dwellings within a radius of 20-to 40-WT heights, we estimated nighttime outdoor and low-frequency (LF) indoor WTN, using information on WT type and simulated hourly wind. During follow-up from 1996 to 2013, 68,696 adults redeemed sleep medication and 82,373 redeemed antidepressants, from eligible populations of 583,968 and 584,891, respectively. We used Poisson regression with adjustment for individual and area-level covariates.
RESULTS: Five-year mean outdoor nighttime WTN of ≥42 dB was associated with a hazard ratio (HR) = 1.14 [95% confidence interval (CI]: 0.98, 1.33) for sleep medication and HR = 1.17 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.35) for antidepressants (compared with exposure to WTN of <24 dB). We found no overall association with indoor nighttime LF WTN. In age-stratified analyses, the association with outdoor nighttime WTN was strongest among persons ≥65 y of age, with HRs (95% CIs) for the highest exposure group (≥42 dB) of 1.68 (1.27, 2.21) for sleep medication and 1.23 (0.90, 1.69) for antidepressants. For indoor nighttime LF WTN, the HRs (95% CIs) among persons ≥65 y of age exposed to≥15 dB were 1.37 (0.81, 2.31) for sleep medication and 1.34 (0.80, 2.22) for antidepressants.
CONCLUSIONS: We observed high levels of outdoor WTN to be associated with redemption of sleep medication and antidepressants among the elderly, suggesting that WTN may potentially be associated with sleep and mental health.
Aslak Harbo Poulsen, Ole Raaschou-Nielsen, Alfredo Peña, Andrea N. Hahmann, Rikke Baastrup Nordsborg, Matthias Ketzel, Jørgen Brandt, and Mette Sørensen
Diet, Genes and Environment, Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen
Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark
3DTU Wind Energy, Department of Wind Energy, Technical University of Denmark, Roskilde
Department of Natural Science and Environment, Roskilde University, Denmark
Global Center for Clean Air Research (GCARE), University of Surrey, United Kingdom
Environmental Health Perspectives, March 2019
https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP3909
Download original document: “Impact of Long-Term Exposure to Wind Turbine Noise on Redemption of Sleep Medication and Antidepressants: A Nationwide Cohort Study”
Long-Term Exposure to Wind Turbine Noise and Risk for Myocardial Infarction and Stroke: A Nationwide Cohort Study
Author: Poulsen, Aslak Harbo; et al.
BACKGROUND: Noise from wind turbines (WTs) is reported as more annoying than traffic noise at similar levels, raising concerns as to whether WT noise (WTN) increases risk for cardiovascular disease, as observed for traffic noise.
OBJECTIVES: We aimed to investigate whether long-term exposure to WTN increases risk of myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke.
METHODS: We identified all Danish dwellings within a radius 20 times the height of the closest WT and 25% of the dwellings within 20–40 times the height of the closest WT. Using data on WT type and simulated hourly wind at each WT, we estimated hourly outdoor and low frequency (LF) indoor WTN for each dwelling and derived 1-y and 5-y running nighttime averages. We used hospital and mortality registries to identify all incident cases of MI (n= 19,145) and stroke (n= 18,064) among all adults age 25–85 y (n= 717,453), who lived in one of these dwellings for≥one year over the period 1982–2013. We used Poisson regression to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRRs) adjusted for individual- and area-level covariates.
RESULTS: IRRs for MI in association with 5-y nighttime outdoor WTN >42 (vs. <24) dB(A) and indoor LF WTN >15 (vs. <5) dB(A) were 1.21 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.91, 1.62; 47 exposed cases] and 1.29 (95% CI: 0.73, 2.28; 12 exposed cases), respectively. IRRs for intermediate categories of outdoor WTN [24–30, 30–36, and 36–42 dB(A) vs. <24 dB(A)] were slightly above the null and of similar size: 1.08 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.12), 1.07 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.12), and 1.06 (95% CI: 0.93, 1.22), respectively. For stroke, IRRs for the second and third outdoor exposure groups were similar to those for MI, but near or below the null for higher exposures.
CONCLUSIONS: We did not find convincing evidence of associations between WTN and MI or stroke.
From the Discussion: ‘[A]lthough we found the highest levels of WTN to be associated with the highest relative risk for incident MI, numbers of highly exposed cases were small, and the associations were nonsignificant. Inverse or null associations between high exposures and stroke were also based on a small number of cases. Therefore, it is not possible to draw firm conclusions from our finding.’
Aslak Harbo Poulsen, Ole Raaschou-Nielsen, Alfredo Peña, Andrea N. Hahmann, Rikke Baastrup Nordsborg, Matthias Ketzel, Jørgen Brandt, and Mette Sørensen
Diet, Genes and Environment, Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen
DTU Wind Energy, Technical University of Denmark, Roskilde
Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark
Department of Natural Science and Environment, Roskilde University, Denmark
Global Center for Clean Air Research (GCARE), University of Surrey, United Kingdom
Environmental Health Perspectives, March 2019
https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP3340
Download original document: “Long-Term Exposure to Wind Turbine Noise and Risk for Myocardial Infarction and Stroke: A Nationwide Cohort Study”
Long-term exposure to wind turbine noise at night and risk for diabetes: A nationwide cohort study
Author: Poulsen, Aslak Harbo; et al.
Highlights
- We investigated a cohort of 365,986 Danes living close to wind turbines (WT).
- We identified 25,148 cases of diabetes during the period 1996–2002.
- Long-term exposure to WT noise was not associated with increased risk of diabetes.
- Similar results were seen for indoor night-time noise and across a range of strata.
- Results do not support an association between wind turbine noise and diabetes.
Abstract
Noise from wind turbines (WTs) is reported as more annoying than traffic noise at similar levels, raising concerns as to whether WT noise (WTN) may negatively affect health, as reported for traffic noise. We aimed to investigate whether residential WTN is associated with adverse birth outcomes. Based on national registries, we identified all Danish dwellings situated within ≤ 20 wt heights radius and a random selection of 25% of dwellings situated within 20–40 wt heights radius of a WT. We identified 135,795 pregnant women living in the dwellings from 1982 to 2013, and collected information on gestational age and birth weight from a national birth registry. Using data on WT type and simulated hourly wind at each WT, we estimated hourly outdoor and low frequency (LF) indoor WTN at the dwellings of the pregnant women and aggregated as mean nighttime WTN during pregnancy. We used logistic regression with adjustment for individual and area-level covariates for the analyses. We did not find evidence suggesting that mean pregnancy or trimester-specific exposure to outdoor or indoor LF WTN were associated with any of the three adverse birth outcomes investigated: preterm birth (n = 13,003), term small for gestational age (n = 12,220) or term low birth weight (n = 1127). However, the number of cases in the highest exposure categories of ≥ 42 dB outdoor WTN or ≥ 15 dB indoor LF WTN were low for all outcomes (n between 0 and 31). The present study does not support an association between nighttime WTN and adverse birth outcomes. However, there were few cases in the high exposure groups and the results call for reproduction.
Aslak Harbo Poulsen, Ole Raaschou-Nielsen, Alfredo Peña, Andrea N.Hahmann, Rikke Baastrup Nordsborg, Matthias Ketzel, Jørgen Brandt, Mette Sørensen
- Diet, Genes and Environment, Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen
- DTU Wind Energy, Technical University of Denmark, Roskilde
- Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark
- Department of Natural Science and Environment, Roskilde University, Denmark
Environmental Research, Volume 165, August 2018, Pages 40-45
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2018.03.040
Download original document: “Long-term exposure to wind turbine noise at night and risk for diabetes: A nationwide cohort study”
