Wind turbine noise not a health threat, trade group says

The sounds wind turbines make don't pose a health threat, although they may be annoying.

That’s the bottom line from a new report from the American Wind Energy Association, the wind industry's main trade group. AWEA and other industry groups brought together an international team panel of doctors, audiologists and acoustical professionals to examine whether turbine noise is physiologically harmful.

The nut graph: “Sound levels from wind turbines pose no risk of hearing loss or any other nonauditory effect.”

The sound levels are typical of what city residents might experience every day, the report contends.

“There is no evidence that sound at the levels from wind turbines as heard in residences will cause direct physiological effects,” the report states. “A small number of sensitive people, however, may be stressed by the sound and suffer sleep disturbances.”

"Annoyance is not a pathological entity," the report adds.

Here is more on the topic.