Does low-frequency noise from wind turbines cause 'wind turbine syndrome'?

What the science says...

The weight of the evidence suggests that there is no direct causal correlation between low-frequency noise from wind turbines and human health¹ (also Marshall et al. 2023, Radun et al. 2022, van Kamp & van den Berg 2021, Schmidt et al. 2014, Dumbrille et al. 2021). Individual cases of sleep disturbance among people living in proximity to new wind turbines are more likely the result of annoyance about the presence of those turbines rather than inaudible noise emanating from them².

One historical study looked at complaints filed in relation to 51 Australian wind farms from 1993 to 2012. Prior to 2009, complaints related to health and noise were rare, despite the fact that many small and large wind farms were already in operation. However, following the coining of the phrase "wind turbine syndrome" in a self-published book that year, there was a dramatic spike in complaints (Crichton et al. 2014).

Footnotes:

[1] Wind Energy Technologies Office, Frequently Asked Questions about Wind Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy (last visited March 25, 2024); NHMRC Statement: Evidence on Wind Farms and Human Health, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Australian Government, 1 (2015); Tracy Merlin et al., Systematic review of the human health effects of wind farms, National Health and Medical Research Council, 2013; but see Richard R. James, Wind Turbine Infra and Low-Frequency Sound: Warning Signs That Were Not Heard, 32 Bulletin of Science, Technology, and Society, 2012 (analyzing “historical evidence about what was known regarding infra and low-frequency sound from wind turbines and other noise sources during the period from the 1970s through the end of the 1990s” to conclude that wind energy may be causing adverse impacts to some people living near wind turbines); Anne Dumbrille et al., Wind turbines and adverse health effects: Applying Bradford Hill’s criteria for causation, 6 Environmental Disease 109, 2021, at 65, (concluding that, while “[i]ncontrovertible proof of causation has tended to be an elusive goal,” when a lower standard of causality is applied, “recurring sleep disturbance, anxiety, and stress” can be attributed to industrial wind turbines).

[2] van Kamp & van den Berg (2021). A front-page newspaper article from 2015 that attempted to infer a direct causal relationship between turbine-related infrasound and human health impacts based on the findings of a non-peer-reviewed study was widely criticized. See Jacqui Hoepner & Will J Grant, Wind turbine studies: how to sort the good, the bad, and the ugly, Conversation, Jan. 21, 2015; Ketan Joshi, Windfarm weirdness syndrome is real. Just look at our national ‘debate’, Guardian, Feb. 23, 2015

This rebuttal is based on the report "Rebutting 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind, and Electric Vehicles" written by Matthew Eisenson, Jacob Elkin, Andy Fitch, Matthew Ard, Kaya Sittinger & Samuel Lavine and published by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School in 2024. Skeptical Science sincerely appreciates Sabin Center's generosity in collaborating with us to make this information available as widely as possible.

Last updated on 26 October 2024 by Sabin Center Team. View Archives