Wind farm noise is no more disruptive than road traffic, study finds

The noise from wind farms is no more disruptive to sleep than road traffic, researchers have found.

Campaigners have previously claimed that low-frequency noises – including 'infrasound', or below our hearing range – affects human sleep.

Now scientists have analysed 460 sleep nights with 68 participants, over the course of five years.

The study, by Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, found that wind farm noise disrupted sleep about the same as road traffic.

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The researchers said that the very low frequency wind farm noise was not actually audible to the human ear, whether participants were awake or asleep.

Volunteers spent seven nights in a sleep laboratory, and were recruited from groups including people who lived near wind farms and those who lived near busy suburban roads.

The volunteers were played 20-second noise samples of wind farm and road traffic noise at different levels of sound pressure.

The researchers found that being exposed to either wind farm or road traffic noise triggered a small increase in the number of people waking up, which could lead to disrupted sleep.

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Chief investigator Peter Catcheside said that the study showed that loud noises of either wind farms or traffic could disrupt sleep.

He said: "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."

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