The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has released the results of a multidisciplinary panel study, which concludes that the sounds generated by wind turbines are not harmful to human health.
The panel – established by AWEA and the Canadian Wind Energy Association and comprising medical doctors, audiologists and acoustical professionals from the U.S., Canada, Denmark and the United Kingdom – undertook extensive review, analysis, and discussion of the large body of peer-reviewed literature, specifically with regard to sound produced by wind turbines. The panel determined that the sounds emitted by wind turbines were of a sub-audible and low frequency pitch and, thus, could not have direct adverse physiological effects on human hearing.
‘The panel's multidisciplinary approach helped to fully explore the many published scientific reports related to the potential impact of wind turbines on people's health,’ says Dr. Robert J. McCunney, one of the authors of the study and an occupational/environmental medicine physician and research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ‘There is no evidence that the sounds, nor the sub-audible vibrations, emitted by wind turbines have any direct adverse physiological effects on humans.’
The full report is available at the AWEA Web site.
SOURCE: AWEA
