The increasing number and size of wind farms call for more data on human response to wind turbine noise, so that a generalized dose-response relationship can be modeled and possible adverse health effects avoided. This paper reports the results of a 2007 field study in The Netherlands with 725 respondents. A dose-response relationship between calculated A-weighted sound pressure levels and reported perception and annoyance was found. Wind turbine noise was more annoying than transportation noise or industrial noise at comparable levels, possibly due to specific sound properties such as a "swishing" quality, temporal variability, and lack of nighttime abatement. High turbine visibility enhances negative response, and having wind turbines visible from the dwelling significantly increased the risk of annoyance. Annoyance was strongly correlated with a negative attitude toward the visual impact of wind turbines on the landscape. The study further demonstrates that people who benefit economically from wind turbines have a significantly decreased risk of annoyance, despite exposure to similar sound levels. Response to wind turbine noise was similar to that found in Sweden so the dose-response relationship should be generalizable.

People living in the vicinity of wind turbines are at risk of being annoyed by the noise, an adverse effect in itself. Noise annoyance in turn could lead to sleep disturbance and psychological distress. No direct effects of wind turbine noise on sleep disturbance or psychological stress has been demonstrated, which means that residents, who do not hear the sound, or do not feel disturbed, are not adversely affected.

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Health Canada, in collaboration with Statistics Canada, and other external experts, conducted the Community Noise and Health Study to better understand the impacts of wind turbine noise (WTN) on health and well-being. A cross-sectional epidemiological study was carried out between May and September 2013 in southwestern Ontario and Prince Edward Island on 1238 randomly selected participants (606 males, 632 females) aged 18-79 years, living between 0.25 and 11.22 km from operational wind turbines. Calculated outdoor WTN levels at the dwelling reached 46 dBA. Response rate was 78.9% and did not significantly differ across sample strata. Self-reported health effects (e.g., migraines, tinnitus, dizziness, etc.), sleep disturbance, sleep disorders, quality of life, and perceived stress were not related to WTN levels. Visual and auditory perception of wind turbines as reported by respondents increased significantly with increasing WTN levels as did high annoyance toward several wind turbine features, including the following: noise, blinking lights, shadow flicker, visual impacts, and vibrations. Concern for physical safety and closing bedroom windows to reduce WTN during sleep also increased with increasing WTN levels. Other sample characteristics are discussed in relation to WTN levels. Beyond annoyance, results do not support an association between exposure to WTN up to 46 dBA and the evaluated health-related endpoints.

The possibility that wind turbine noise (WTN) affects human health remains controversial. The current analysis presents results related to WTN annoyance reported by randomly selected participants (606 males, 632 females), aged 18-79, living between 0.25 and 11.22 km from wind turbines. WTN levels reached 46 dB, and for each 5 dB increase in WTN levels, the odds of reporting to be either very or extremely (i.e., highly) annoyed increased by 2.60 [95% confidence interval: (1.92, 3.58), p < 0.0001]. Multiple regression models had R(2)'s up to 58%, with approximately 9% attributed to WTN level. Variables associated with WTN annoyance included, but were not limited to, other wind turbine-related annoyances, personal benefit, noise sensitivity, physical safety concerns, property ownership, and province. Annoyance was related to several reported measures of health and well-being, although these associations were statistically weak (R(2 )< 9%), independent of WTN levels, and not retained in multiple regression models. The role of community tolerance level as a complement and/or an alternative to multiple regression in predicting the prevalence of WTN annoyance is also provided. The analysis suggests that communities are between 11 and 26 dB less tolerant of WTN than of other transportation noise sources.

This paper describes the Quiet Places Project in Amsterdam. The purpose of the study was to find out: (1) which public quiet places there are according to Amsterdam residents; (2) what characterizes a quiet place; (3) to what extent do residents want peace and quiet; (4) how do residents realize these needs. The factors determining the need for quietness are presented in a model showing the influence of demographic and socio-economic issues, health status, sensitiveness to noise, daily activities and the noisiness in and around home. Most important of these factors is sensitivity to noise. Elderly and less healthy people are more often sensitive to noise. People who are annoyed by sound from traffic, airplanes and the like show a higher need for quietness. People with a lively household or neighbourhood report lower needs for quietness. Visiting a quiet place and going outside to walk or bike can have a compensating effect on the need for quietness. This suggests that creating quiet places and enhancing possibilities for quiet recreation in urban environments can have a positive effect on the quality of life in the city. Objective noise levels at the quiet places were taken from environmental noise maps. This shows that there may be a preference for low transportation noise levels, but levels up to 60 dB Lday are acceptable. Apparently this depends on a relative quietness or on non-acoustic characteristics of an area: the presence of vegetation and other pleasant stimuli.

Atmospheric stability cannot, with respect to modern, tall wind turbines, be viewed as a 'small perturbation to a basic neutral state' . This can be demonstrated by comparison of measured wind velocity at the height of the rotor with the wind velocity expected in a neutral or 'standard' atmosphere. Atmospheric stability has a significant effect on wind shear and increases the power production substantially relative to a neutral atmosphere. This conclusion from Dutch data is corroborated by other published wind shear data from the temperate climate zone. The increase in wind shear due to atmospheric stability also has a significant effect on the sound emission, causing it to be substantially higher than predicted from near-ground wind velocity and a neutral atmosphere, resulting in a higher noise impact on neighbouring residences. Several measures are proposed to mitigate the noise impact. To reduce noise levels, the rotational speed can be controlled with the nearground wind speed or sound level as the control input. To reduce the fluctuation in the sound ('blade thumping'), it is suggested to adjust the blade pitch angle of the rotating blades continuously. To prevent stronger fluctuations at night due to the coincidence of thumps from several turbines, it is suggested to add random variations in pitch angle, mimicking the effect of large-scale turbulent fluctuations in daytime. Figure 1. Solid lines: 1987 wind velocity averaged per clock half hour at heights (bottom to top) of 10 to 200 m; dotted line: logarithmically extrapolated V 80 ; +: shear exponent m 10,80 Wind Turbine Power and Sound 155 Figure 4. Distribution of shear exponent per meteorological season, determined from V 80 /V 10 Figure 5. Shear exponent m from wind velocity gradient between 10 and 80 m (left), and 40 and 140 m (right) versus total ground heat flow; grey circles: all data, black dots: V 80 > 4 m s −1 158 G. P. van den Berg Figure 6. Wind direction change between 10 and 80 m (left) and 40 and 140 m (right) versus shear exponent m between same heights for V 80 > 4 m s −1 Figure 7. Prevalence of shear exponent m between 10 and 80 m (top) and 40 and 140 m (bottom) in four seasons and year of 1987 160 G. P. van den Berg Values of wind shear have been reported by various authors, showing similar results. Pérez et al. 4 measured wind velocities up to 500 m above an 840 m altitude plateau north of Valladolid, Spain, for every hour over 16 months.The shear exponent, calculated from the wind velocity at 40 and 220 m, varied from 0·05 to 0·95, but was most of the time between 0·1 and 0·7. High shear exponents occurred more often than in Cabauw: m > 0·48 for 50% of the time. This is likely the result of the more southern position: insolation is higher, causing 162 G. P. van den Berg

Study results do not support an association between exposure to outdoor WTN up to 46 dB(A) and an increase in the prevalence of disturbed sleep. Conclusions are based on WTN levels averaged over 1 y and, in some cases, may be strengthened with an analysis that examines sleep quality in relation to WTN levels calculated during the precise sleep period time.