Are Wind Farms Making People Sick?

Reader Contribution by Roberta Kwok
Published on May 23, 2013
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This article is published with permission from the University of Washington’sConservation Magazine.

People living near wind farms have complained of headaches, dizziness, and other health problems. Now researchers have found that simply watching videos about these complaints is enough to make others report the same symptoms. (Hat tip: Slate.)

Many residents have fought wind farm development because they worry that sound from the turbines will make them sick. Turbines produce low-frequency sound that isn’t audible to humans, called infrasound. But scientists haven’t found a plausible way that infrasound could cause the symptoms people describe.

The authors tested whether people might be influenced by the widespread reports of wind farm-related health complaints on the Internet. The team told 54 college students that they were being exposed to infrasound for two 10-minute sessions. During one session, the researchers were indeed transmitting infrasound. But the other session was a sham treatment; no sound was actually transmitted.

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