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More than once or twice, STT has picked up on hard-hitting scientific research that shows that those who suffer the worst effects of incessant turbine generated low-frequency noise and infrasound are generally prone to suffer seasickness:
Sick Again – motion sickness sufferers cop it worst from giant fans
Top Acoustic Engineer – Malcolm Swinbanks – Experiences Wind Farm Infrasound Impacts, First Hand
Adverse Health Effects of Wind Turbine Infrasound Explained
Now, a top Neuroscientist from Sydney University – Simon Carlile – is set to build on that body of research.
Wind farm effect on balance ‘akin to seasickness’: scientist
The Australian
Simon King
12 June 2015
The scientist who set up the Sydney University Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory — and who was asked to be involved in assessing the National Health and Medical Research Council’s targeted research examining the effect of wind turbines — says the growing body of evidence points to the low-frequency infrasound they create directly affecting the human nervous system.
Medical faculty associate professor of neuroscience Simon Carlile said it was time to properly examine the effects of low-frequency wavelengths and recognise that, like seasickness, they don’t affect everybody.
“In terms of the physiology, in terms of how we know the nervous system responds to this low-frequency noise, the evidence says ‘yes, the nervous system is activated at these frequencies’,” he told The Australian.
“But not in the traditional way you might think hearing works — it’s stimulating the system that’s involved in balance — the vestibular system. So there’s some good physiology, some good neuroscience, that this does exist and it’s been shown in animal models.”
But Associate Professor Carlile said its existence was only “one part of the story”.
“The other part is that some people are susceptible and some aren’t,” he said.
“It just means that when you look across 1000 people you can’t see a statistical effect across that population — because 90 per cent of them aren’t affected. Then the question is: why are some people affected and other people aren’t?
“And the answer to this could be because it’s not stimulating the ears — you can’t hear it at low frequency — it’s stimulating the vestibular system.’’
Associate Professor Carlile said that was similar to people who suffered seasickness.
“They get seasick because of the simulation of the vestibular system — and there seems to be quite significant variations of susceptibility to vestibular-induced nausea.
“A lot of the symptoms some people report around wind turbines are very similar to vestibular induced nausea or seasickness, like sleep disturbance.
“The nervous system is definitely sensitive to this stimulus.”
He said research could feed back to design: “This is going to be an important energy source and if we’re building tons of these things in the wrong places or building them in the wrong way then we’ve got big trouble.”
He felt the statistical and epidemiological approaches informing the debate had not been “hitting the mark. You have got potentially a wide range of individual difference on this: you’ve really got to be homing in on those differences.”
The Australian
Simon Carlile may well have the nouse to crack the precise mechanism that has turbine infrasound causing vertigo and nausea among wind farm neighbours. However, his claim that: “This is going to be an important energy source” has him straying well outside his area of expertise. As STT followers well know, wind power is not, and will never be a meaningful power generation source, simply because it will never be available on-demand:
What we have is a nonsense power source – on which billions of dollars in subsidies have been squandered – that causes wholly unnecessary suffering to thousands of people around the world.
While Carlile’s planned investigation is clearly worthy, those people who suffer the worst effects (eg, vertigo, nausea etc) form a subset of a much, much larger group that suffer from the most common adverse health effect – sleep deprivation:
Danish Experts: Sleep Deprivation the Most Common Adverse Health Effect Caused by Wind Turbine Noise
For every wind farm neighbour that suffers problems with balance or nausea, there are dozens more that suffer from what the World Health Organisation calls “environmental insomnia” – which it views as an adverse health effect in and of itself, and has done for over 60 years: see its Night-time Noise Guidelines for Europe – the Executive Summary at XI to XII which covers the point.
With researchers focusing on a small group of sufferers, there is a tendency to overlook the suffering of the many more who can no longer obtain a healthy night’s sleep.
Where people like Carlisle start talking about 10 or 15% of people affected with nausea and vertigo, that proportion – in the hands of the eco-fascists that run cover for the wind industry – quickly turns into a “tiny minority”, which is then used to feed that classic, malicious Marxist line about “the greatest good for the greatest number”. You know, the kind of argument that has wind farm neighbours tagged as “collateral damage” or “road-kill”; in an effort to justify the unjustifiable.
Civil societies (like ours once was) have used a bundle of common sense rules aimed at protecting the sanctity of sleep.
Humane societies have separated noisy activities since the time of the ancient Greeks – booting roosters, tinsmiths and potters out of Greek cities – and, in later times, organ grinders out of London.
In Australia today, roosters are banned in cities, suburbs and in most country towns. They have a body clock set earlier than most people and have a routine habit of waking up the whole neighbourhood. Faced with an errant rooster, authorities are quick to act against Foghorn Leghorn & Co on PUBLIC HEALTH GROUNDS.
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Planning laws in most States prevent panel beaters from operating in built up areas before 8am and after 6pm.
And – either by operation of EPA regulations or planning laws – there is a total ban on the operation of chainsaws and lawn mowers in cities, suburbs and most towns. That strictly enforced prohibition operates, in Victoria, for example, Monday to Friday: before 7 am and after 8 pm; and on weekends and public holidays: before 9 am and after 8 pm.
So, if night-time noise isn’t a health problem, then why is it that there are strict rules about the permitted times for operating chainsaws, leaf blowers and lawn mowers – rules that keep roosters out of towns and cities – and rules that mean the plug gets pulled on rock bands and music venues at midnight in residential areas?
None of those long-settled rules required the ‘magic wand’ of peer-reviewed science; or the stamp of approval from the NHMRC. No. Those rules were the product of plain, old common sense – well rested individuals are happier and healthier, wherever they might plop down for some kip.
In short, sleep matters – and having turbines grinding and thumping away in the next paddock without let-up, all night long, deprives people of the ability to enjoy it – and that has consequences for everyone:
With a solid set of rules set up to benefit one class (all those not forced to live next door to giant fans) by prohibiting night-time noise from a variety of rather innocuous sources, the only question is why the same type of rule isn’t there to benefit the other class?
With everyone waxing lyrical about the Magna Carta’s 800 years of helping to keep tyrants honest – and ensuring that the little man got treated the same whoever he was – now is a fair time to ask, just what’s fair about having one set of rules for the 99% and no rule at all for the 1% forced to suffer sonic torture night-after-merciless-night?
STOP THESE THINGS 
Two things have occurred at the NHMRC in respect to its ‘review’ of wind farms and health that have cut deeply at the core of the integrity of our democratic government system. Firstly, 2 of the board of review personnel were/are seriously in a position of ‘conflict of interest’ and 3 others had/have strong pre-determined views. Secondly, the ‘criteria’ set for the review lead to a ‘pre-determined’ result that excluded the bulk of scientific work that is relevant and did not address the issue of ‘public health’ but rather adopted criteria suited only to ‘medical procedure’. No resolution is likely from further NHMRC involvement.
You couldn’t be more truthful STT.
In this situation, as predicted by
Top Acoustic Engineer – Malcolm Swinbanks – Experiences Wind Farm Infrasound Impacts, First Hand
They are running these wind parks at 55 dbs (? is that the proper abbreviation ?) right here in Michigan’s Thumb, Tuscola County.
I can tell you exactly when they blow my way and I am 5 miles south. At first I thought it was me, aging, now I know it’s not. Queasy, tinnitus and vertigo invade me now, which I never had before the installations. I thought I was going to be safe at 5 miles away. I was wrong.
The careing people of this Nation knew the health issues of the fans would come very clear one day; well, it is crystal clear. The windweasel grubs are the only ones that thought the problem would blow away in the wind (you believe in the tooth fairy if you thought the problem would blow away).
The Professor Chapman will have to eat humble pie with all the evidence that is coming out. That is if he is a man.
Recently I contacted a number of senior roosters in our district over my concerns that roosters were being removed from the cities and towns.
General opinion was that whilst concerned they assured me that there were enough rural roosters scattered around the continent to bring the sun up each morning, and to tell the city people not to worry. I said that I was a bit sceptical about his claim. He replied I crow in the morning whilst it’s dark and soon after the sun comes up doesn’t it, what more proof do you need. I said, I cannot argue with that.
I look at this Infrasound another way. The claims vary in percentage of people affected.
Take smoking, most people say I am ok I don’t have any health issues. Then out of the blue, lung cancer, heart attacks, diabetes, which have all being simmering away under the surface not noticeable.
People today acknowledge passive smoking near children is not on. I also believe infant children near wind farms will be also be found to be not on.
Asbestos, silent killer, no symptoms until it’s too late.
Dr Charlie Teo, links brain tumors and mobile phones, once again you cannot feel anything but could be doing you harm.
You wouldn’t go near anything that had a sign atomic radiation, you cannot feel anything but it is silently killing you.
I guess my view is if you live near a wind farm and you don’t feel any symptoms or sensations, don’t automatically think you are not being harmed.
How true, the danger is there and especially for our youngsters. Will they be able to reach their potential with a healthy life if they are being bombarded by IF or a continual assault of noise/sounds?
If we ever get good quality appropriate research proving the dangers of IF, I expect there will still be those who say if you don’t see it, hear it or feel it, then it must be good for you.
Dear STT,
My wife suffers wind turbine induced nausea from time to time. Nearest wind “farm” is 13km (8.5 miles) away. And she hears their emitted noise pollution nearly all the time now 😦 … and she suffers from travel sickness 😦
Among the list of ‘noise’ emitters that can cause people annoyance are airports some of which have night time curfews, ask that Professor who says there’s no problem with IWT noise and he knows because he lives near Sydney Airport!!
With respect to A/Professor Carlile’s work, its great to see someone (and especially someone from Sydney Uni) willing to say there is something specific here that needs to be investigated further.
Maybe there are different levels of exposure which affect people, and some may only be affected by 1 with others affected by a combination of all.
If the sound travelling through the ground from Infrasound emissions causes a vibration in the ground, or any other solid surface, which causes a vibration moving through the bodies – nervous system, skin and bones, with the heard noise causing severe annoyance, further enhanced by the frustration from knowing you have no way of stopping the offensive noise, and add to this the attack on the vestibule system, then you have people in a position of a catastrophic attack on their very being.
It would be like living in a noisy agitator that you cannot escape from.
The over whelming farce is that the NHMRC appears to ignore that this is possible. As a result they are in danger of providing research funding to ‘pie in the sky’ theories to: – “Issue: The broader social and environmental circumstances that influence annoyance, sleep disturbance, quality of life and health effects that are reported by residents living in proximity to wind farms, … “Factors that influence changes to health effects may include people’s expectations of their environment, perceived loss of control, aesthetics and impacts on visual landscape, impacts on land values, uneven distribution of financial benefits, local community relationships and exposure to other noise sources (e.g. road traffic and wind noise).” quoted from NHMRC Targeted Call for Research into Wind Farms and Human Health Call-Specific funding Rules.
To even consider including such research at this stage is beyond belief.
Find out exactly what is or is not happening first before suggesting those suffering are doings so from some psychosocial mumbo jumbo already assigned by someone who has no medical or acoustical training and promoted by denigrating those who do have such training.
The NHMRC is in danger of wasting the funds assigned to it by the Federal Government by not understanding and accepting the severity of the effect these Industrial Machines are having on rural communities who until the coming of these massive, noisy machines into their lives.
Just reading the NHMRC’s Information Paper, Evidence on Wind Farms and Human Health. February 2015, sends shivers of concern through my mind, the depth of the ignorance and avoidance of wanting to find the truth is so concerning it puts the whole system of their funding research in question. Just how many other emerging health concerns are being ‘blocked’ from research funding by their lack of understanding that indirect evidence and non peer reviewed research can point to dangers.
By relying on existing peer reviewed research to fund research restricts access to funding to areas that are already being funded. Is it becoming a case of ‘best buddies’ and ‘old school chums’ get the funding while others studying new areas or controversial emerging concerns have to wait for the left over tit bits.
I hope the whole $500,000 per year for 5 years is dedicated to true research into this area as it has the potential to not only help those suffering the consequences of living close to IWT’s but to help those who work and live close to other sources of infra Sound and other environmental sound/noise. It could be ground breaking research which would resound around the world.
NHMRC wake up and realise you have a crucial role to play.
The NHMRC have clear conflict of interests and are corrupt.
A Royal Commission is the only way to achieve justice for the victims of the wind industry and its cronies.
Anti discrimination and human rights laws prevent discrimination on the basis of people’s gender, race, age and disability, but not on the basis of where they live. Rural residents are being discriminated against. Urban dwellers are not forced to endure industrial noise at night, nor their neighbours’ pool pumps or leafblowers. With quieter night-time environments than urban dwellers, rural residents deserve far better.
Well another day, another day of ranting by the windies. The Clean Energy Council is preaching more doom and gloom, suggesting it’s been the hottest 5 months ever.
The well paid twitter jockeys keep on spewing out the vitriol, surely with time they will burn out into a depressive mess.
The words of my futures broker during the eye of the storm of the Global Financial Crisis come to mind:
“Don’t go betting too often on the end of the world, because remember, it will only happen once.”
The wind farm zealots are ranting up here too 🙂 The Conservative govt has announced it’s cutting onshore wind farm subsidies 1 year early – from 01 April 2016 😀
I also heard this morning that Ed “Moron” Davey – the last energy secretary in the previous UK coalition govt and some Scottish turbine hugger register identical complaints in different interviews … this announcement will result in job losses, loss of investment in the windustry and more expensive electricity bills because wind power is the most cost effective method of delivering renewable energy.
Yeah – pull the other one! The presenter interviewing the Scottish turbine hugger didn’t sound convinced with his arguments either after grilling him with the well known problems associated with wind power 🙂
Spot on. The SNP are wailing and threatening to sue. There is dancing in the Scottish Glens and on the grave of the wind industry. Look forward to you all joining us when your government pulls the plug too. Cheers!
I have a question ?
I get sea sick on calm water.
So my getting sea legs is caused by this thing .
Industrial Noise is causing Infrasound and Low Frequency Noise here.
DAMN