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Draft 25 December 2006

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NOISE RADIATION FROM WIND TURBINES INSTALLED NEAR HOMES:
EFFECTS ON HEALTH

With an annotated review of the research and related issues



By Barbara J Frey, BA, MA and Peter J Hadden, BSc, FRICS

























February 2007 v.1
www.windturbinenoisehealthhumanrights.com







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NOISE RADIATION FROM WIND TURBINES INSTALLED NEAR HOMES:
EFFECTS ON HEALTH

With an annotated review of the research and related issues



By Barbara J Frey, BA, MA and Peter J Hadden, BSc, FRICS






Contents

1.0
Abstract
2.0
Introduction

3.0
Overview of the Problems: Personal Perspectives
4.0
Acoustics
5.0
Health
Effects
6.0
Human
Rights
7.0
Conclusions
References

Appendix: Property Values
Acknowledgements


Note: This paper limits its discussion to wind turbines taller than 50m or
from 0.75MW up to 2MW installed capacity.






















Copyright 2006 BJ Frey & PJ Hadden

3
Section
1.0
ABSTRACT

Wind turbines are large industrial structures that create obtrusive environmental noise
pollution when built too close to dwellings. This annotated review of evidence and
research by experts considers the impact of industrial-scale wind turbines suffered by
those living nearby. First, the paper includes the comments by some of the families
affected by wind turbines, as well as coverage in news media internationally. The
experiences described put a human face to the science of acoustics.

Second, the paper reviews research articles within the field of acoustics concerning
the acoustic properties of wind turbines and noise. The acoustic characteristics of
wind turbines are complex and in combination produce acoustic radiation. Next, the
paper reviews the health effects that may result from the acoustic radiation caused by
wind turbines, as well as the health effects from noise, because the symptoms parallel
one another. Primarily, the consequent health response includes sleep deprivation and
the problems that ensue as a result. In addition, this paper reviews articles that report
research about the bodys response not only to the audible noise, but also to the
inaudible components of noise that can adversely affect the bodys physiology.
Research points to a causal link between unwanted sound and sleep deprivation and
stress, i.e., whole body physiologic responses.

These injuries are considered in the context of Human Rights, where it is contended
that the environmental noise pollution destroys a persons effective enjoyment of right
to respect for home and private life, a violation of Article 8 of the European Court of
Human Rights Act. Furthermore, the paper considers the consequent devaluation of a
dwelling as a measure of part of the damage that arises when wind turbines are sited
too close to a dwelling, causing acoustic radiation and consequent adverse health
responses.

The review concludes that a safe buffer zone of at least 2km should exist between
family dwellings and industrial wind turbines of up to 2MW installed capacity,
with greater separation for a wind turbine greater than 2MW installed capacity.

4
Section 2.0 INTRODUCTION



1

Industrial wind turbines produce an intermittent flow of electricity but in the
process also produce undesirable noise emissions when installed too close to
peoples homes, causing environmental noise pollution. (See Section 6.5 of this
paper.)

2
Wind turbines located at a sensible distance from dwellings are unlikely to cause
environmental noise pollution and health problems. When the State allows
priority to commercial interests, the reasonable needs of families and their
human rights are extinguished. There are questions of human rights and of
industrial and governmental ethics when developers construct wind turbines too
close to dwellings, especially when Government decision makers are fully
aware that there is a high probability that families may lose the right of respect
for their home and private life. In such instances, both the commercial groups
and the State are party to the violation.

3
This Review seeks to bring together research evidence in the professional
literature that addresses the substantive nature of the problem, both from the
acoustical and biomedical perspectives. However, the Review would be
incomplete without Section 3, Overview of the Problems Personal
Perspectives, which includes the observations and reflections by those living
near wind turbines, as well as reports in the media. The Review also considers
the possible infringement of human rights when developers build wind turbines
in close proximity to dwellings.

4
Precision in predicting noise levels in homes neighbouring wind turbines has so
far eluded the wind industry. As early as 1987, Glegg, Baxter, and Glendinning
reported on the problems with predicting noise accurately:


This paper describes a broadband noise prediction scheme for wind
turbines. The source mechanisms included in the method are unsteady lift
noise, unsteady thickness noise, trailing edge noise and the noise from
separated flow [In] spite of these detailed predictions of the atmospheric
boundary layer the noise predictions are 10dB below the measured levels
[The upwind] support tower cannot be ignored, since significant acoustic
scattering occurs when the rotor blade is close to the tower. This can be
very important subjectively and so a theoretical model has been developed
which allows for the increase in radiation due to this effect. [Glegg SAL,
Baxter SM, and Glendinning AG. The prediction of broadband noise from
wind turbines. Journal of sound and vibration 1987; 118(2): 217-39, pp 217-
218]

5
In a recent (2006) Report the Dti found further studies of wind turbine noise
were necessary:



However, the presence of aerodynamic modulation which is greater than
that originally foreseen by the authors of ETSU-R-97, particularly during
the night hours, can result in internal wind farm noise levels which are
audible and which may provoke an adverse reaction from a listener To
take account of periods when aerodynamic modulation is a clearly audible
feature within the incident noise, it is recommended that a means to assess
and apply a correction the incident noise is developed. [Dti Executive

5
Summary of the Measurement of Low Frequency Noise at Three UK Wind
Farms, contract number W/45/00656/00/00, URN number 06/1412,
Contractor: Hayes McKenzie Partnership Ltd, 2006.]


The report states that it may be appropriate to re-visit the issue of
aerodynamic modulation and a means by which it should be assessed.
[p
65]

6
The wind energy industry and its consultants acoustical engineers claim that
the audible and inaudible noise effects have minimal consequence on humans
and that infrasound (0Hz 20Hz, part of the low frequency noise spectrum), is
inaudible and weak and therefore not a human health risk. This review has not
found any epidemiological evidence to support these suppositions.

7
As more wind turbines are installed near homes, more communities are affected
by these complex sounds. Noise is the human face of the science of sound, and
physicians are seeing the results. More people living close to wind turbines
within 1.5km complain of sleep deprivation, headaches, dizziness,
unsteadiness, nausea, exhaustion, mood problems, and inability to concentrate.


Physicians and researchers in the UK, Portugal, Germany, the USA, Australia,
and New Zealand, among others, have observed a similar constellation of
symptoms.

8
Although acousticians and engineers working for the wind energy industry
conclude that audible noise and low frequency noise from wind turbines are
unlikely to cause health effects, experts in biomedical research have drawn
different conclusions.

9
Indeed, in 2006, the French National Academy of Medicine issued a report that
concludes:


The harmful effects of sound related wind turbines are insufficiently
assessed People living near the towers, the heights of which vary from 10
to 100 meters, sometimes complain of functional disturbances similar to
those observed in syndromes of chronic sound trauma The sounds emitted
by the blades being low frequency, which therefore travel easily and vary
according to the wind, constitute a permanent risk for the people exposed
to them An investigation conducted by the Ddass [Direction
Departementale des Affaires Sanitaires et Sociales] in Saint-Crepin
(Charent-Maritime) revealed that sound levels 1 km from an installation
occasionally exceeded allowable limits.


The report continues:


While waiting for precise studies of the risks connected with these
installations, the Academy recommend halting wind turbine construction
closer than 1.5 km fro