Before-after field study of effects of wind turbine noise on polysomnographic sleep parameters.
TL;DR: The result of this study based on advanced sleep recording methodology together with extensive noise measurements in an ecologically valid setting cautiously suggests that there are no major changes in the sleep of participants who host new industrial WTs in their community.
Abstract: Wind is considered one of the most advantageous alternatives to fossil energy because of its low operating cost and extensive availability. However, alleged health-related effects of exposure to wind turbine (WT) noise have attracted much public attention and various symptoms, such as sleep disturbance, have been reported by residents living close to wind developments. Prospective cohort study with synchronous measurement of noise and sleep physiologic signals was conducted to explore the possibility of sleep disturbance in people hosting new industrial WTs in Ontario, Canada, using a pre and post-exposure design. Objective and subjective sleep data were collected through polysomnography (PSG), the gold standard diagnostic test, and sleep diary. Sixteen participants were studied before and after WT installation during two consecutive nights in their own bedrooms. Both audible and infrasound noises were also concurrently measured inside the bedroom of each participant. Different noise exposure parameters were calculated (LAeq, LZeq) and analyzed in relation to whole-night sleep parameters. Results obtained from PSG show that sleep parameters were not significantly changed after exposure. However, reported sleep qualities were significantly (P = 0.008) worsened after exposure. Average noise levels during the exposure period were low to moderate and the mean of inside noise levels did not significantly change after exposure. The result of this study based on advanced sleep recording methodology together with extensive noise measurements in an ecologically valid setting cautiously suggests that there are no major changes in the sleep of participants who host new industrial WTs in their community. Further studies with a larger sample size and including comprehensive single-event analyses are warranted.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors conduct a review of the evidence surrounding the optimal characteristics for the sleep environment in the categories of noise, temperature, lighting, and air quality in order to provide specific recommendations for each of these components.
77 citations
Cites result from "Before-after field study of effects..."
...Similarly, a study that compared EEGmeasured sleep before and after installation of wind turbines in a neighborhood found no differences in objective or subjective sleep outcomes (category 1A), however, the noise exposure in that study was the same in both conditions (37 dBA, [37]....
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TL;DR: In this paper, a narrative review of observational and experimental studies was conducted to assess the association between exposure to wind turbine sound and its components and health effects in the general population, concluding that wind turbines lead to a higher percentage of highly annoyed when compared to other sound sources.
Abstract: A narrative review of observational and experimental studies was conducted to assess the association between exposure to wind turbine sound and its components and health effects in the general population. Literature databases Scopus, Medline and Embase and additional bibliographic sources such as reference sections of key publications and journal databases were systematically searched for peer-reviewed studies published from 2009 to 2017. For the period until early 2015 only reviews were included, while for the period between January 2015 and January 2017 all relevant publications were screened. Ten reviews and 22 studies met the inclusion criteria. Most studies examined subjective annoyance as the primary outcome, indicating an association between exposure levels and the percentage highly annoyed. Sound from wind turbines leads to a higher percentage of highly annoyed when compared to other sound sources. Annoyance due to aspects, like shadow flicker, the visual (in) appropriateness in the landscape and blinking lights, can add to the noise annoyance. There is no evidence of a specific effect of the low-frequency component nor of infrasound. There are indications that the rhythmic pressure pulses on a building can lead to additional annoyance indoors. Personal characteristics such as noise sensitivity, privacy issues and social acceptance, benefits and attitudes, the local situation and the conditions of planning a wind farm also play a role in reported annoyance. Less data are available to evaluate the effects of wind turbines on sleep and long-term health effects. Sleep disturbance as well as other health effects in the vicinity of wind turbines was found to be related to annoyance, rather than directly to exposure.
57 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors combined the methodology of stress psychology with noise measurement to an integrated approach to better understand causes and effects of wind turbine (WT) noise, and found that more residents complained about physical and psychological symptoms due to traffic noise (16%) than to WT noise (10%, two years later 7%).
45 citations
TL;DR: There is an extensive and diverse body of evidence around health impacts of wind turbines in residential settings, showing particularly noise consequences concerning increased noise annoyance with its complex pathways; no relationship between wind turbine noise and stress effects and biophysiological variables of sleep; and heterogeneous findings concerning sleep disturbance, quality of life, as well as mental health problems.
35 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the psychophysiological mechanisms that underlie sleep disturbance in response to noise, review current evidence regarding the effects of wind farm noise on sleep, evaluate the quality of existing evidence and identify evolving research in this area.
Abstract: Adequate sleep is important for good health and well-being, and inadequate sleep leads to impaired attention and performance. Persistent poor sleep is also associated with cognitive and metabolic impairment, cardiovascular problems and diminished psychological well-being. Recent growth in wind farm developments has been associated with community complaints regarding sleep disturbance, annoyance and a range of health issues that some attribute to wind farms. Wind turbines create aerodynamic and mechanical noise that, if sufficiently loud, has the potential to disturb residents’ sleep, particularly for those living in close proximity. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), noise effects on sleep are expected to occur with outside noise levels > 40 dB (A). On the other hand, the WHO guidelines also state that “when prominent low-frequency components are present, measures based on A-weighting are inappropriate”, so uncertainty remains regarding which alternative noise measures and noise limits are most appropriate to mitigate community impacts of wind farm noise on sleep. In Australia, dwellings are typically located > 1 km from the nearest wind turbine where wind farm noise becomes more biased towards lower frequencies (
$$\le $$
200 Hz) at low sound pressure levels (
$$<\sim $$
40 dB (A) outside) that may or may not be audible inside a dwelling. Nevertheless, as with any environmental noise, wind farm noise has the potential to disturb sleep, via frequent physiological activation responses and arousals affecting the micro-structure of sleep, and the overall macro-structure of sleep, including total sleep time potentially reduced by difficulty falling asleep and returning to sleep following awakenings for whatever reason. Over time, chronic insomnia could potentially develop in individuals with greater sensory acuity and/or those prone to annoyance from environmental noise. However, it is unclear if and how much sleep is disturbed by the relatively low sound pressure levels relevant to wind turbine noise. Good empirical evidence to investigate these plausible mechanisms is sparse. In this paper, we describe the psychophysiological mechanisms that underlie sleep disturbance in response to noise, review current evidence regarding the effects of wind farm noise on sleep, evaluate the quality of existing evidence and identify evolving research in this area.
29 citations
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TL;DR: Over the past 30 years, research into environmental noise and sleep has focused on different situations and environments, and therefore the findings are variable, but it still seems necessary for some fundamental questions to be answered on whether environmental noise has long-term detrimental effects on health and quality of life and, if so, what these effects are for night-time, noise-exposed populations.
672 citations
TL;DR: Evidence from epidemiologic studies demonstrates that environmental noise is associated with an increased incidence of arterial hypertension, myocardial infarction, and stroke, and the importance of noise mitigation strategies for public health is stressed.
Abstract: The role of noise as an environmental pollutant and its impact on health are being increasingly recognized. Beyond its effects on the auditory system, noise causes annoyance and disturbs sleep, and it impairs cognitive performance. Furthermore, evidence from epidemiologic studies demonstrates that environmental noise is associated with an increased incidence of arterial hypertension, myocardial infarction, and stroke. Both observational and experimental studies indicate that in particular night-time noise can cause disruptions of sleep structure, vegetative arousals (e.g. increases of blood pressure and heart rate) and increases in stress hormone levels and oxidative stress, which in turn may result in endothelial dysfunction and arterial hypertension. This review focuses on the cardiovascular consequences of environmental noise exposure and stresses the importance of noise mitigation strategies for public health.
516 citations
"Before-after field study of effects..." refers background in this paper
...The physiological processes involve protein biosynthesis, excretion of specific hormones, and memory consolidation, all of which prepare the individual for the next wake period.([1]) Fragmented and insufficient sleep can adversely affect general health impacting daytime alertness and performance, quality of life, and health, and potentially lead to serious long-term health effects....
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TL;DR: The respondents' attitude to the visual impact of wind turbines on the landscape scenery was found to influence noise annoyance, showing higher proportion of people reporting perception and annoyance than expected from the present dose-response relationships for transportation noise.
Abstract: Installed global wind power increased by 26% during 2003, with U.S and Europe accounting for 90% of the cumulative capacity. Little is known about wind turbines’ impact on people living in their vicinity. The aims of this study were to evaluate the prevalence of annoyance due to wind turbine noise and to study dose–response relationships. Interrelationships between noise annoyance and sound characteristics, as well as the influence of subjective variables such as attitude and noise sensitivity, were also assessed. A cross-sectional study was performed in Sweden in 2000. Responses were obtained through questionnaires (n=351; response rate 68.4%), and doses were calculated as A-weighted sound pressure levels for each respondent. A statistically significant dose–response relationship was found, showing higher proportion of people reporting perception and annoyance than expected from the present dose–response relationships for transportation noise. The unexpected high proportion of annoyance could be due to visual interference, influencing noise annoyance, as well as the presence of intrusive sound characteristics. The respondents’ attitude to the visual impact of wind turbines on the landscape scenery was found to influence noise annoyance.
401 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of air, road and rail traffic noise on sleep and recuperation were investigated for 11 consecutive nights, which included eight noise exposure nights and one noise-free control night.
Abstract: Study Objectives: Traffic noise disturbs sleep and may impair recuperation. There is limited information on single and combined effects of air, road and rail traffic noise on sleep and recuperation.
Design: Repeated measures
Setting: Polysomnographic laboratory study
Participants: 72 healthy subjects, mean ± standard deviation 40 ± 13 years, range 18-71 years, 32 male
Interventions: Exposure to 40, 80, or 120 rail, road, and/or air traffic noise events
Measurements and Results: Subjects were investigated for 11 consecutive nights, which included eight noise exposure nights and one noise-free control night. Noise effects on sleep structure and continuity were subtle, even in nights with combined exposure, most likely due to habituation and an increase in arousal thresholds both within and across nights. However, cardiac arousals did not habituate across nights. Noise exposure significantly affected subjective assessments of sleep quality and recuperation, whereas objective performance was unaffected, except for a small increase in mean PVT reaction time (+4 ms, adjusted P 3 kHz) noise event components.
Conclusions: Road, rail, and air traffic noise differentially affect objective and subjective assessments of sleep. Differences in the degree of noise-induced sleep fragmentation between traffic modes were explained by the specific spectral and temporal composition of noise events, indicating potential targets for active and passive noise control. Field studies are needed to validate our findings in a setting with higher ecologic validity.
231 citations
"Before-after field study of effects..." refers background in this paper
...Basner et al.[20] suggested that traffic noise events may cause awakenings in study participants, but these awakenings replaced the majority of awakenings that would otherwise have spontaneously occurred....
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...Basner et al.([20]) suggested that traffic noise events may cause awakenings in study participants, but these awakenings replaced the majority of awakenings that would otherwise have spontaneously occurred....
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...Basner et al.[19] showed that for low maximum SPLs and chronic exposure situations with partial adaptation, the strongest association between noise and effects on sleep was observed for EEG arousals....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assess actual sound immission, long term measurements (a total of over 400 night hours in 4 months) have been performed at 400 and 1500m from the wind park.
192 citations
"Before-after field study of effects..." refers background in this paper
...Larger wind farms tend to generatemore noise than smaller ones, as severalWTs in the samevicinity can lead to increased pulse sounds, with increased SPLs of 5 dB.([27]) It is also common for old turbines to operate at a fixed speed, or perhaps at one or two fixed speeds, depending on the wind speed....
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