‘No evidence’ for existence of wind turbine syndrome, finds study

A new study has found no evidence that ‘wind turbine syndrome’ exists after an experiment conducted on university students, with noise from the machines found to be no more “stressful or bothersome than road traffic noise.”

People living close to wind farms have long claimed that noises from turbines can cause headaches, sleep problems and mood problems such as anxiety and irritability. The most notable proponent of this idea is US President Donald Trump, who has claimed that people living near wind farms “go crazy after a couple of years.”

A team of researchers from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland recently set out to determine whether the US President and others are correct in this assertion. They found no evidence to back up the claims.

The researchers recruited 45 university students for their study. The students were not told about the purpose of the study to eliminate bias, with the researchers merely mentioning that there might be some sound played while they carried out a series of tasks, including reading popular science articles and completing cognitive ability assessments.

Different groups of students were exposed to either the sound of wind turbines, road traffic or complete silence during those tasks.

After the study, the researchers asked the group exposed to wind turbine noise to name the sound. “None identified it as wind turbine noise.”

Most provided “general descriptions indicating it was some noise,” with some specifying that the sound reminded them of an airplane or even “ocean waves.”

The sound pressure level for the wind turbine noise was set to a “least favourable case” scenario of the machines being just 500 metres from the participants. The researchers used sound recorded from a 2MW turbine, although they noted that future research should use recordings from different models.

The study concluded that “when participants are exposed to wind turbine noise with a sound pressure level corresponding to real-world situations… without knowing that it is the sound of an operating wind farm, the noise does not adversely affect brain functions and is not perceived maladaptively”.

The noise is “not perceived as more stressful or bothersome than road traffic noise,” they found. This is even true when those individuals “have tendencies towards maladaptive thoughts.”

“These results cannot be generalised; however, they support the concept that the interlinkage between exposure to wind turbine noise and human cognitive functioning is not a cause-and-effect relationship,” said the researchers.

Perhaps most tellingly, they noted that their study supports the idea that perceived links between turbine noise and cognitive function are “mediated by socially constructed beliefs about wind farms”. Essentially, if you don’t like wind farms, you’ll be predisposed to believe bad things about them.

The results of the study could they said help “limit misinformation’s role” in decisions made regarding wind energy, increasing the evidence available in discussions among residents, policymakers and energy developers.