Contrary to popular belief, wind farms are not as soothing as they look. Noise from turbines has long been a topic of concern, with some claiming that it can have detrimental effects on sleep.

New research conducted by sleep researchers at Flinders University has found that wind farm noise is no more disruptive to sleep than traffic sounds.

The study, which is yet to undergo peer review, discovered that very low-frequency wind farm noise is not audible to the human ear, whether a person is awake or asleep.

The research project spanned five years and involved analyzing over 460 sleep study nights with the participation of 68 individuals. Each participant spent seven consecutive nights in a sleep laboratory. The participants were recruited from four different groups, including those living near a wind farm, those residing close to a busy suburban road, and individuals living in quiet rural areas.

During the study, each participant was repeatedly exposed to a 20-second wind farm and road traffic noise samples at three different sound pressure levels. Additionally, on a separate night, longer 3-minute noise samples were played, including very-low-frequency wind farm sounds, to assess if they resulted in sleep disturbance.

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Wind Farms in Comparison to Road Traffic Noise

The results of the study indicated that short exposure to wind farms and road traffic noise led to a slight increase in the number of awakenings, potentially disrupting sleep patterns. However, the research also revealed that wind farm noise was not more disruptive than road traffic noise. 

Chief investigator Peter Catcheside emphasized that the study demonstrated that both wind farm noise and road traffic noise could disrupt sleep, with the extent of disruption depending primarily on the loudness of the noise. He stated, "However, at realistic levels, these effects were quite small. We also found no evidence to suggest that wind farm noise is any more disruptive to sleep than road traffic noise. At the highest exposure level, road traffic noise was a little more sleep disruptive than wind farm noise."

While the findings provide strong evidence that wind farms are not inherently more disruptive to sleep, Professor Catcheside acknowledged that particularly noise-sensitive individuals might experience greater difficulty falling asleep when noise levels are noticeable.

The research was presented at an international conference on wind farm noise in Dublin recently but is still pending peer review. The outcomes of the study contribute valuable insights to the ongoing discussions surrounding wind farm noise and its potential effects on sleep, indicating that it may not be as disruptive as previously believed. 

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