Infrasound From Wind Turbines Could Affect Humans

Alec N. Salt and James A.Kaltenbach Infrasound , Bulletin of Science Technology & Society 2011 31: 296, DOI: 10.1177/0270467611412555

Bio
Alec N. Salt received his PhD from the University of Birmingham, UK, in 1977 and has been actively involved in research into the physiology of the ear for over 35 years.

Bio
James A. Kaltenbach received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984. He specializes in the neurobiology of hearing disorders and is currently the Director of Otology Research at the Cleveland Clinic.

Abstract
Wind turbines generate low-frequency sounds that affect the ear. The ear is superficially similar to a microphone, converting mechanical sound waves into electrical signals, but does this by complex physiologic processes. Serious misconceptions about low-frequency sound and the ear have resulted from a failure to consider in detail how the ear works. Although the cells that provide hearing are insensitive to infrasound, other sensory cells in the ear are much more sensitive, which can be demonstrated by electrical recordings. Responses to infrasound reach the brain through pathways that do not involve conscious hearing but instead may produce sensations of fullness, pressure or tinnitus, or have no sensation. Activation of subconscious pathways by infrasound could disturb sleep. Based on our current knowledge of how the ear works, it is quite possible that low-frequency sounds at the levels generated by wind turbines could affect those living nearby.

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Original Source: http://nieuwerustnoisewatch.org/wp-content/documents/peer-reviewed-articles/05-Infrasound-from-Wind-Turbines-Could-Affect-Humans-SaltKaltenbach.pdf