Health Risks
Environmental Noise, Low-Frequency Noise, Air Emissions and Human Health
The potential health effects of introducing a major industrial development into a quiet rural environment should be considered using the broader body of research on environmental noise, low-frequency noise, sleep, stress and air pollution.
Health Canada, peer-reviewed research on low-frequency noise, and the World Health Organization provide different pieces of this evidence.
No single study establishes that a particular development will cause illness. Taken together, however, the research identifies recognized pathways through which a significant new environmental exposure could potentially affect human health, particularly in people already vulnerable to sleep disturbance or physiological stress.
Health Canada: Wind Turbine Noise and Health Study
Health Canada conducted its Wind Turbine Noise and Health Study with Statistics Canada. The study included 1,238 participating households located at varying distances from wind turbines in Ontario and Prince Edward Island.
Participants lived approximately 250 metres to 10 kilometres from wind turbines. Health Canada conducted more than 4,000 hours of noise measurements and examined self-reported health alongside objective measurements including blood pressure, heart rate, hair cortisol and sleep.
Low-Frequency Noise and Infrasound
Health Canada confirmed that wind turbines produce low-frequency noise, generally described as frequencies between 20 and 200 Hz.
Health Canada noted that low-frequency noise can enter homes with relatively little reduction in energy and can contribute to rattling and annoyance.
The study also detected wind-turbine infrasound at distances of up to 10 kilometres under some circumstances.
Long-Term Annoyance and Health
One of Health Canada’s clearest findings was an exposure-response relationship between increasing wind-turbine noise and increasing high annoyance.
Health Canada defined high annoyance as a long-term response, approximately 12 months, rather than temporary irritation.
Annoyance was also greater during the evening and nighttime.
Most importantly, Health Canada found that wind-turbine-noise annoyance was statistically related to several health indicators, including:
• Poorer sleep scores
• Perceived stress
• Migraines
• Tinnitus
• Dizziness
• Blood pressure
Wind-turbine-noise annoyance was also statistically related to objectively measured hair cortisol and systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
Health Canada could not determine whether these conditions existed before the turbines, were exacerbated by exposure, or resulted from other factors.
Health Canada therefore did not establish that turbine noise caused these conditions.
However, Health Canada concluded that its findings support a potential link between long-term high annoyance and health.
Source:
Health Canada Wind Turbine Noise and Health Study: Summary of Results
Low-Frequency Noise Research
Health Canada’s wind-turbine study is not the only research examining low-frequency noise.
A 2016 peer-reviewed systematic review by Baliatsas and colleagues examined observational research involving everyday environmental low-frequency noise and infrasound.
The review found associations between exposure to LFN and:
• Annoyance
• Sleep-related problems
• Concentration difficulties
• Headaches
The research involved populations living near a range of LFN sources rather than wind turbines alone.
Source:
Baliatsas C, van Kamp I, van Poll R, Yzermans J.
Health effects from low-frequency noise and infrasound in the general population: Is it time to listen? A systematic review of observational studies. Science of the Total Environment. 2016.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26994804/
World Health Organization: Environmental Noise and Health
WHO provides the broader public-health context surrounding environmental noise.
WHO recognizes environmental noise as an important environmental health risk and identifies potential effects including:
• Sleep disturbance
• Annoyance
• Cardiovascular effects
• Metabolic effects
• Psychophysiological effects
• Cognitive impairment
WHO’s environmental-noise work also examines biological pathways involving physiological stress responses.
This is important because the potential health effects of environmental noise are not limited to hearing damage.
Persistent environmental noise can create annoyance, interfere with sleep and activate physiological stress pathways.
WHO specifically recognizes industry, including wind turbines, among relevant sources of environmental noise.
WHO also recognizes that vulnerability is not identical across the population. Its guidance has identified chronically ill and elderly people as groups that can be more sensitive to noise disturbance.
Sources:
World Health Organization
Environmental Noise
https://www.who.int/europe/health-topics/noise
World Health Organization
Biological Mechanisms Related to Cardiovascular and Metabolic Effects by Environmental Noise
https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/WHO-EURO-2018-3009-42767-59666
World Health Organization
Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region
https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/9789289053563
Why Pre-Existing Chronic Illness Matters
The research becomes particularly relevant when considering individuals with existing chronic conditions that are already known to be aggravated by sleep disruption or physiological stress.
WHO recognizes that chronically ill individuals can be more sensitive to noise disturbance.
Therefore, if an individual already has a condition in which inadequate sleep or physiological stress aggravates symptoms, the introduction of a persistent new environmental noise source presents a reasonable health concern.
New environmental noise → long-term annoyance and/or sleep disturbance → physiological stress → potential aggravation of an existing stress- or sleep-sensitive condition.
The Health Canada study provides evidence concerning the relationship between noise and long-term annoyance.
The LFN systematic review provides evidence associating environmental low-frequency noise with annoyance and sleep-related problems.
WHO provides evidence concerning environmental noise, sleep disturbance, stress mechanisms and broader health effects.
These findings complement one another without any individual study proving the entire pathway.
