{"id":17337,"date":"2011-09-19T19:01:04","date_gmt":"2011-09-19T23:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/static\/?p=17337"},"modified":"2012-01-21T12:14:36","modified_gmt":"2012-01-21T17:14:36","slug":"new-clinical-article-supports-wts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/2011\/new-clinical-article-supports-wts\/","title":{"rendered":"New clinical article supports WTS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00b7<\/span>
\n\u201cAdverse health effects of industrial wind turbines: A preliminary report<\/a>\u201d<\/h4>\n

By Michael Nissenbaum MD, Jeff Aramini PhD, Chris Hanning MD. \u00a0Tenth International Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem (ICBEN), July 24-28, 2011, London, UK<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Guidelines and regulations for the siting of industrial wind turbines (IWT) close to human\u00a0habitation are generally predicated on the need to protect the sleep of the residents.\u00a0The recommended setback distances and \u201csafe\u201d external noise levels make the assumptions\u00a0that IWT noise can be regarded as similar to other forms of environmental\u00a0noise (traffic, rail and aircraft) and is masked by ambient noise. There has been no independent\u00a0verification that these assumptions are justified and that the safeguards are\u00a0sufficient to protect sleep.<\/p>\n

Anecdotal complaints of annoyance and health effects from IWT noise have grown in\u00a0number in recent years, not least because turbine size has increased and they have\u00a0been placed closer to population centers. The predominant symptom of health complaints\u00a0is sleep disturbance (Frey & Hadden 2007; Pierpont 2009; van den Berg et al.\u00a02008; WindVOICe 2010). The consequences of sleep disturbance and the contribution\u00a0of environmental noise are well documented (WHO 2009).<\/p>\n

Complaints of adverse health effects were made shortly after IWT installations at Mars\u00a0Hill and Vinalhaven, Maine, USA, began operating. A preliminary survey at Mars Hill,\u00a0comparing those living within 1,400 m with a control group living 3,000-6,000 m away\u00a0showed that sleep disturbance was the main health effect (Nissenbaum 2011, submitted\u00a0for publication). A further study was therefore carried out at both Mars Hill and Vinalhaven\u00a0using validated questionnaires and comparing those living within 1.5 km of the turbines\u00a0with a control group living 3,500-6,000 m away.<\/p>\n

Click<\/span> here<\/a> for the body of the report. \u00a0The “Discussion,” follows.<\/span><\/p>\n

Discussion<\/strong><\/p>\n

This study, which is the first controlled study of the effects of IWT noise on sleep and\u00a0health, shows that those living within 1.4 km of IWT have suffered sleep disruption which is\u00a0sufficiently severe as to affect their daytime functioning and mental health. Both the ESS and PSQI\u00a0are averaged measures, i.e. they ask the subject to assess their daytime sleepiness and sleep\u00a0quality respectively, over a period of several weeks leading up to the present. For the ESS to\u00a0increase, sleep must have been shortened or fragmented to a sufficient degree on sufficient nights\u00a0for normal compensatory mechanisms to have been overcome. The effects of sleep loss and daytime\u00a0sleepiness on cognitive function, accident rate and mental health are well established (WHO 2009)\u00a0and it must be concluded that at least some of the residents living near the Vinalhaven and Mars\u00a0Hill IWT installations have suffered serious harm to their sleep and health.<\/p>\n

The significant relationship between the symptoms and distance from the IWTs, the subjects\u2019 report\u00a0that their symptoms followed the start of IWT operations, the congruence of the symptoms reported\u00a0here with previous research and reports and the clear mechanism is strong evidence that IWT noise\u00a0is the cause of the observed effects.<\/p>\n

IWT noise has an impulsive character and is several times more annoying than other sources of noise\u00a0for the same sound pressure level (Pedersen & Persson Waye 2004). It can prevent the onset of sleep\u00a0and the return to sleep after a spontaneous or induced awakening. Road, rail and aircraft noise\u00a0causes arousals, brief lightening of sleep which are not recalled. While not proven, it is highly\u00a0likely that IWT noise will cause arousals\u00a0which may prove to be the major mechanism for sleep disruption. It is possible that the\u00a0low frequency and infrasound components of IWT noise might contribute to the sleep\u00a0disruption and health effects by other mechanisms but this remains to be determined\u00a0and further research is needed.<\/p>\n

Attitudes to IWT and visual impact have been shown to be factors in annoyance to IWT\u00a0noise (Pedersen et al. 2009) but have not been demonstrated for sleep disturbance.\u00a0Most respondents in the present study welcomed the IWT installations as offering economic\u00a0benefits. The visual impact of IWT decreases with distance, as does the noise\u00a0impact making separation of these factors impossible.<\/p>\n

We conclude that IWT noise at these two sites disrupts the sleep and adversely affects\u00a0the health of those living nearby. The current ordinances determining setback are inadequate\u00a0to protect the residents and setbacks of less than 1.5 km must be regarded as\u00a0unsafe. Further research is needed to determine a safe setback distance and to investigate\u00a0the mechanisms of causation.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00b7 \u201cAdverse health effects of industrial wind turbines: A preliminary report\u201d By Michael Nissenbaum MD, Jeff Aramini PhD, Chris Hanning MD. \u00a0Tenth International Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem (ICBEN), July 24-28, 2011, London, UK Introduction Guidelines and regulations for the siting of industrial wind turbines (IWT) close to human\u00a0habitation are generally predicated on the need to protect the sleep of the residents.\u00a0The recommended setback distances and \u201csafe\u201d external noise levels make the assumptions\u00a0that IWT noise can be regarded as similar to other forms of environmental\u00a0noise (traffic, rail and aircraft) and is masked by ambient noise. There has been no independent\u00a0verification that these assumptions are justified and that the safeguards are\u00a0sufficient to protect sleep. Anecdotal complaints of annoyance and health effects from IWT noise have grown in\u00a0number in recent years, not least because turbine size has increased and they have\u00a0been placed closer to population centers. The predominant symptom of health complaints\u00a0is sleep disturbance (Frey & Hadden 2007; Pierpont 2009; van den Berg et al.\u00a02008; WindVOICe 2010). The consequences of sleep disturbance and the contribution\u00a0of environmental noise are well documented (WHO 2009). Complaints of adverse health effects were made shortly after IWT installations at Mars\u00a0Hill and Vinalhaven, Maine, USA, began operating. A preliminary survey at Mars Hill,\u00a0comparing those living within 1,400 m with a control group living 3,000-6,000 m away\u00a0showed that sleep disturbance was the main health effect (Nissenbaum 2011, submitted\u00a0for publication). A further study was therefore carried out at both Mars Hill and Vinalhaven\u00a0using validated questionnaires and comparing those living within 1.5 km of the turbines\u00a0with a control group living 3,500-6,000 m away. Click here for the body of the report. \u00a0The “Discussion,” follows. Discussion This study, which is the first controlled study of the effects of IWT noise on sleep and\u00a0health, shows that those living within 1.4Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[163,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17337"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}