The presence of infrasound in our everyday life.

Abstract

There has been a great deal of research in the past ten years pertaining to infrasound. The effect on humans and animals of high levels of infrasound in both water and air has been studied. The effect of infrasound on structures was examined. In some situations, there has been paranoia over the effect of infrasound and, in other cases, infrasound has been overlooked completely when examining an acoustical problem. This study addresses an important element that remains to be studied, the prevalence of infrasound in a variety of locations. Infrasound was measured in a house, at a bus stop, at a typical office environment, and a variety of other situations that a typical person would be exposed to during the course of a week. These levels are then compared to less typical sites such as refineries, dredging areas, manufacturing plants, and community areas where noise complaints have been lodged. These comparisons give a preliminary understanding of peoples’ exposure to infrasound.