There has been a lot of controversy about industrial wind turbines (IWTs) lately, and as reported yesterday, a new study suggests that the sound from wind turbines may be causing adverse health effects in those that live close to wind farms.

Wind Turbine Syndrome (WTS) is the term that has been used to describe the blanket of symptoms reported — insomnia, headaches, nausea, stress, poor ability to concentrate and irritability. Numerous studies have been conducted regarding wind turbine noise and its potential effect on people, with the majority of those studies concluding that there are no health effects from the noise. Other studies have stated that the health effects and general mental state of the people that live around wind turbines is determined by 'annoyance' — how the people feel about the wind turbines, whether they see them as an unnecessary or disruptive intrusion, whether they find them aesthetically pleasing or not, and whether they directly benefit from them financially. In some cases, it has been suggested that WTS is psychogenic — that it is spread simply by raising concerns and worry about the subject — which is being called the 'nocebo effect', a negative placebo effect.

Indeed, the symptoms of WTS listed above are very similar to those of sleep deprivation. This is not to dismiss the problem, as sleep deprivation can and does cause serious health problems, however, it has been suggested that any newly-introduced source of noise in a rural area may cause the exact same effects on people. If that is the case, it would not be the wind turbines themselves that cause the problem, but simply the addition of another source of noise.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/geekquinox/study-suggests-wind-turbines-associated-wind-turbine-syndrome-190554667.html