5 ms·

I used to think it's all nonsense and people just complaining about nothing, but now I have a wind turbine about 500m away from my house and I can absolutely he

I used to think it's all nonsense and people just complaining about nothing, but now I have a wind turbine about 500m away from my house and I can absolutely hear it at night, just constant low frequency droning combined with a whooshing sound of the blades. Like, I've gotten somewhat used to it now, but I'd lie if I said it doesn't bother me. And again, I don't want to come across as someone against green technologies, we should be building lots and lots of these everywhere.....just maybe not this close to housing.

bikeshaving 5y ago
Would you say it’s worse or better than living near a highway without sound barriers?
- gambiting 5y ago
  It's different - I used to live next to major road, and yeah it was louder in intensity, for sure, but at least it would die down quite a lot during the night, and you'd only ocassionally get a car/motorbike with a loud exhaust passing by. This really bothers me because it's just constant and completely unchanging, I keep lying in bed and hearing the whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.....with cars I'm just like ok, there was a loud motorbike but it's gone now. With a wind turbine I know it won't change, and either I have to get used to it or....well, move out I guess, and that sucks.
  - arcticfox 5y ago
    YMMV but I for the past few years I have been sleeping with Bose QuietComfort earbuds with active noise cancelling and they've significantly improved my life. Loud noises that would have woken me in the past are dampened enough that I can sleep through them, and annoying hums or whatever while traveling are just completely gone.
    - gambiting 5y ago
      Yeah so actually I use my Sony WF-1000XM3 headphones often when falling asleep, or I just put on some rain sounds on my phone next to me - that's usually enough.
    - FpUser 5y ago
      Interestingly I can not keep headphones on (in ear, over ear does not matter) as after a while I begin to experience discomfort and after 1-1.5 I go mad.
- Chris2048 5y ago
  If a motorway was built next to my house I'd have a problem with that too
bentlegen 5y ago
I live about half a mile from an expressway, and I can hear loud vehicles all night. My neighbor has a small pool with an aboveground pool filter than also hums all day. I’ve lived in condo buildings where you can hear a general “hum” of the city from down below. Genuinely, should I not be hearing these things? Are the turbines dramatically different?
- shawnb576 5y ago
  We live in Seattle, right under the flight path for our major airport. I hate it, its annoying enough to wake me up at times; one benefit of the early pandemic was much-reduced air traffic. There are trains a few miles away that are fairly loud when the weather turns cold. Also wakes me up at night. Noise pollution sucks, and if windmills are put up 500m from your house I think part of that process should involve the local homes is if all is that is true. OTOH we live in a noisy world, are windmills any different?
- Angostura 5y ago
  I think the low frequency and period nature could make it quite different.
- schnitzelstoat 5y ago
  But I guess the expressway would already have been there when you bought the property? The problem is making changes that will significantly affect nearby property values without the permission of the owners of those properties nor any compensation.
  - boringg 5y ago
    So is this a property valuation issue or a quality of life issue?
    - koboll 5y ago
      To NIMBYs, there is no distinction.
    - 5y ago
bserge 5y ago
Hah, I wish everyone who vehemently says they're very quiet could live near one. I'm definitely not saying "stop building them", though. On a side note, that's very similar to what tinnitus sounds like. Sometimes drives me mad.
- phicoh 5y ago
  I guess it could an issue of people living in an area that is too quiet. I live close to a highway. If you would put up a wind turbine at 700 meters (distance mentioned in the article) then it would be impossible to hear it. Compared to city noise, wind turbines are extremely quiet. Though I can imagine that if the sound of the wind turbine is the dominating sound (and probably people sleep with their windows open). That it could be extremely annoying.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

bikeshaving 5y ago

Would you say it’s worse or better than living near a highway without sound barriers?

gambiting 5y ago
It's different - I used to live next to major road, and yeah it was louder in intensity, for sure, but at least it would die down quite a lot during the night, and you'd only ocassionally get a car/motorbike with a loud exhaust passing by. This really bothers me because it's just constant and completely unchanging, I keep lying in bed and hearing the whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.....with cars I'm just like ok, there was a loud motorbike but it's gone now. With a wind turbine I know it won't change, and either I have to get used to it or....well, move out I guess, and that sucks.
- arcticfox 5y ago
  YMMV but I for the past few years I have been sleeping with Bose QuietComfort earbuds with active noise cancelling and they've significantly improved my life. Loud noises that would have woken me in the past are dampened enough that I can sleep through them, and annoying hums or whatever while traveling are just completely gone.
  - gambiting 5y ago
    Yeah so actually I use my Sony WF-1000XM3 headphones often when falling asleep, or I just put on some rain sounds on my phone next to me - that's usually enough.
  - FpUser 5y ago
    Interestingly I can not keep headphones on (in ear, over ear does not matter) as after a while I begin to experience discomfort and after 1-1.5 I go mad.
Chris2048 5y ago
If a motorway was built next to my house I'd have a problem with that too

bentlegen 5y ago

I live about half a mile from an expressway, and I can hear loud vehicles all night. My neighbor has a small pool with an aboveground pool filter than also hums all day. I’ve lived in condo buildings where you can hear a general “hum” of the city from down below. Genuinely, should I not be hearing these things? Are the turbines dramatically different?

shawnb576 5y ago
We live in Seattle, right under the flight path for our major airport. I hate it, its annoying enough to wake me up at times; one benefit of the early pandemic was much-reduced air traffic. There are trains a few miles away that are fairly loud when the weather turns cold. Also wakes me up at night. Noise pollution sucks, and if windmills are put up 500m from your house I think part of that process should involve the local homes is if all is that is true. OTOH we live in a noisy world, are windmills any different?
Angostura 5y ago
I think the low frequency and period nature could make it quite different.
schnitzelstoat 5y ago
But I guess the expressway would already have been there when you bought the property? The problem is making changes that will significantly affect nearby property values without the permission of the owners of those properties nor any compensation.
- boringg 5y ago
  So is this a property valuation issue or a quality of life issue?
  - koboll 5y ago
    To NIMBYs, there is no distinction.
  - 5y ago

bserge 5y ago

Hah, I wish everyone who vehemently says they're very quiet could live near one. I'm definitely not saying "stop building them", though. On a side note, that's very similar to what tinnitus sounds like. Sometimes drives me mad.

phicoh 5y ago
I guess it could an issue of people living in an area that is too quiet. I live close to a highway. If you would put up a wind turbine at 700 meters (distance mentioned in the article) then it would be impossible to hear it. Compared to city noise, wind turbines are extremely quiet. Though I can imagine that if the sound of the wind turbine is the dominating sound (and probably people sleep with their windows open). That it could be extremely annoying.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]