Characterisation of wind farm infrasound and low-frequency noise

Wind turbines generate a broad spectrum of noise including low frequency noise and infrasound which may be audible or inaudible. 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.”

Peer reviewed articles and other references acknowledge annoyance to be an adverse health effect

http://www.windvigilance.com/about-adverse-health-effects/low-frequency-noise-infrasound-and-wind-turbines

Characterisation of wind farm infrasound and low-frequency noise

Credit : Author: Zajamšek, Branko; Hansen, Kristy; Doolan, Con; and Hansen, Colin

This paper seeks to characterise infrasound and low-frequency noise (ILFN) from a wind farm, which contains distinct tonal components with distinguishable blade-pass frequency and higher harmonics.

Acoustic measurements were conducted at dwellings in the vicinity of the wind farm and meteorological measurements were taken at the wind farm location and dwellings.

Wind farm ILFN was measured frequently under stable and very stable atmospheric conditions and was also found to be dependent on the time of year.

For noise character assessment, wind farm ILFN was compared with several hearing thresholds and also with the spectra obtained when the wind farm was not operating.

Wind farm ILFN was found to exceed the audibility threshold at distances up to 4 km from the wind farm and to undergo large variations in magnitude with time.

Branko Zajamšek, Con J. Doolan
University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Kristy L. Hansen
Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia

Colin H. Hansen
University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia

Journal of Sound and Vibration 370 (2016) 176–190
doi: 10.1016/j.jsv.2016.02.001

Download original document: “Characterisation of wind farm infrasound and low-frequency noise”

https://docs.wind-watch.org/Zajamsek-et-al-2016-Characterisation-of-wind-farm-infrasound-and-low-frequency-noise.pdf