{"id":16500,"date":"2011-08-15T09:01:15","date_gmt":"2011-08-15T13:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/static\/?p=16500"},"modified":"2012-01-21T12:27:21","modified_gmt":"2012-01-21T17:27:21","slug":"american-psychological-assoc-spotlights-wind-turbine-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/2011\/american-psychological-assoc-spotlights-wind-turbine-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"American Psychological Assoc. spotlights Wind Turbine Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cSilence Please!\u201d<\/h2>\n

“Psychologists are increasing awareness of the harmful effects noise has on cognition and health”<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

—Amy Novotney,\u00a0Monitor on Psychology<\/a>, July\/August 2011, vol. 42, no. 7, pp. 46-49 (Note<\/em>: \u00a0The Monitor on Psychology<\/em> is a publication of the<\/span> American Psychological Association<\/a>.<\/span>)<\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/span>
\nWe’ve all been annoyed by a neighbor’s late-night\u00a0partying or early-morning lawn mowing. But it\u00a0turns out that living in a noisy neighborhood particularly\u00a0one plagued by train horns blaring or airplanes\u00a0overhead—is more than exasperating. It might actually be\u00a0deadly, according to a report released in April by the World\u00a0Health Organization and the European Commission’s Joint\u00a0Research Centre.<\/p>\n

A steady exposure to “noise pollution;’ the report concludes,\u00a0may lead to higher blood pressure and fatal heart attacks. The\u00a0report analyzed a large number of epidemiological studies, most\u00a0of which were conducted in Europe.<\/p>\n

The report also confirmed what several psychologists\u00a0have known for decades: Chronic noise impairs a child’s\u00a0development and may have a lifelong effect on educational\u00a0attainment and overall health. Numerous studies now\u00a0show that children exposed to households or classrooms\u00a0near airplane flight paths, railways or highways are slower\u00a0in their development of cognitive and language skills\u00a0and have lower reading scores.<\/p>\n

“There is overwhelming evidence that exposure to\u00a0environmental noise has adverse effects on the health\u00a0of the population,” the report concludes, citing\u00a0children as particularly vulnerable to the effects of\u00a0chronic urban and suburban racket.<\/p>\n

As air traffic increases worldwide and politicians\u00a0consider building noise-producing wind turbines in more\u00a0residential neighborhoods (see “Noise isn’t always loud<\/a>,” below), the negative effects of\u00a0noise will only continue to grow unless more is done to abate \u00a0it, says environmental psychologist Arline Bronzaft, PhD, of\u00a0the City University of New York. Her now-classic study from\u00a0the 1970s was among the first to report the harmful effects of\u00a0subway noise on children’s learning, and she has advised four\u00a0New York City mayors on noise policy. New noise research in\u00a0the United State has been scarce, however, since nearly 30 years\u00a0ago federal funding for noise pollution research was cut after\u00a0the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Noise\u00a0Abatement and Control was eliminated during the Reagan\u00a0administration . . . (click here<\/a> to continue reading from the source).<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n
\n

Noise isn’t always loud<\/a><\/h4>\n

Another spate of psychological research is\u00a0exploring the psychological and health effects\u00a0of quieter—albeit constant—noise from wind\u00a0farms. While these turbines are typically many\u00a0decibels lower than the noise emitted by busy\u00a0city traffic, power lawn movers or leaf blowers,\u00a0sounds don’t have to be loud to be disturbing or to\u00a0decrease quality of life, says\u00a0Bronzaft.<\/p>\n

“A dripping faucet may\u00a0not measure that loud, but\u00a0it sure can keep someone\u00a0awake,” says Bronzaft, who\u00a0has testified on the hazards\u00a0of noise to government and\u00a0health organizations in the\u00a0United States and Canada\u00a0and served as an expert\u00a0witness in court cases on\u00a0wind turbine noise.<\/p>\n

Since the technology is\u00a0still relatively new, a strong\u00a0link between wind turbine\u00a0noise and impaired human\u00a0behavior or performance has\u00a0yet to be proven—and the\u00a0lack of federal funding means\u00a0that research is unlikely to\u00a0remedy this anytime soon.<\/p>\n

Yet several small case studies\u00a0and observational interviews\u00a0have found an increase in sleep disturbance,\u00a0psychological stress and headaches among\u00a0those who live near the structures, according to\u00a0New York pediatrician Nina Pierpont, MD, PhD<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Pierpont documents the individual experiences of\u00a0families in Canada, Europe and the United States\u00a0who live within several miles of the windmills in\u00a0“Wind Turbine Syndrome: A Report on a Natural\u00a0Experiment<\/span>” (2009), and advocates for more \u00a0research on the health effects before additional\u00a0harm is done.<\/p>\n

Yet some experts, including Robert J.\u00a0McCunney, MD, a staff physician at Massachusetts\u00a0General Hospital, argue that to establish a better\u00a0connection between wind turbines and health,\u00a0an individual’s health status must be studied\u00a0before and after the windmills are installed [Pierpont in fact did this in her report; it’s called a case cross-over <\/em>study\u2014Editor<\/em><\/span>],\u00a0and the research should be peer reviewed [Pierpont’s book was in fact peer reviewed<\/a>\u2014Editor<\/em><\/span>].<\/p>\n

In\u00a0addition, in 2009, a panel of\u00a0independent experts [Hired by Big Wind, the members of this panel were hardly “independent” and, although they may have been generic experts in their respective disciplines, they were certainly not experts in this inquiry. \u00a0Not one of them had ever interviewed a Wind Turbine Syndrome victim and, furthermore, not one of them had read Pierpont’s book before trashing it. \u00a0“Experts” don’t behave this way\u2014Editor<\/em><\/span>] in public\u00a0health, audiology and medicine\u00a0commissioned by the American\u00a0and Canadian Wind Energy\u00a0Associations looked at peer reviewed\u00a0studies on the health\u00a0effects of wind turbines [They found no “peer reviewed” studies because\u2014drum roll, please!\u2014the recognition of the syndrome being so new, no one had published on it, except for Pierpont, and they blew her off without reading her book\u2014Editor<\/em><\/span>] and\u00a0found that while some people\u00a0might be annoyed by the “swish,\u00a0swish” sound of the windmills,\u00a0no medical basis existed for the\u00a0health complaints that often arise\u00a0near large wind-farm projects [Precisely the conclusion one would expect from a “study” commissioned and paid for by the two big wind energy associations\u2014Editor<\/em><\/span>].<\/p>\n

“The sounds emitted by\u00a0wind turbines are not unique,”\u00a0panelists, including McCunney,\u00a0contend in their review. “There\u00a0is no reason to believe, based\u00a0on the levels and frequencies\u00a0of the sounds and the panel’s\u00a0experience with sound\u00a0exposures in occupational\u00a0settings, that the sounds from\u00a0wind turbines could plausibly have direct adverse\u00a0health consequences.” \u00a0[Click here<\/a> to read Pierpont’s blistering critique of McCunney’s attempt at science\u2014Editor<\/em>.<\/span>]<\/p>\n

Still, Bronzaft’s efforts- along with a\u00a0continued focus by psychologists around the\u00a0world on noise pollution research and on teaching\u00a0psychology students about the potential negative\u00a0effects of noise- can help to increase society’s\u00a0understanding of how to help abate chronic noise.<\/p>\n

\u2014A. Novotney [Note to Ms. Novotney: \u00a0Why didn’t you contact Dr. Pierpont and interview her? \u00a0You interviewed McCunney\u2014why not Pierpont?\u2014Editor<\/em>.<\/span>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00bb\u00bb\u00bb\u00bb\u00bb\u00bb<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Diagram of the AWEA\/CanWEA report on Wind Turbine Syndrome (according to WTS.com, with appreciation to the unknown creator of this image)<\/h6>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cSilence Please!\u201d “Psychologists are increasing awareness of the harmful effects noise has on cognition and health” —Amy Novotney,\u00a0Monitor on Psychology, July\/August 2011, vol. 42, no. 7, pp. 46-49 (Note: \u00a0The Monitor on Psychology is a publication of the American Psychological Association.) \u00b7 We’ve all been annoyed by a neighbor’s late-night\u00a0partying or early-morning lawn mowing. But it\u00a0turns out that living in a noisy neighborhood particularly\u00a0one plagued by train horns blaring or airplanes\u00a0overhead—is more than exasperating. It might actually be\u00a0deadly, according to a report released in April by the World\u00a0Health Organization and the European Commission’s Joint\u00a0Research Centre. A steady exposure to “noise pollution;’ the report concludes,\u00a0may lead to higher blood pressure and fatal heart attacks. The\u00a0report analyzed a large number of epidemiological studies, most\u00a0of which were conducted in Europe. The report also confirmed what several psychologists\u00a0have known for decades: Chronic noise impairs a child’s\u00a0development and may have a lifelong effect on educational\u00a0attainment and overall health. Numerous studies now\u00a0show that children exposed to households or classrooms\u00a0near airplane flight paths, railways or highways are slower\u00a0in their development of cognitive and language skills\u00a0and have lower reading scores. “There is overwhelming evidence that exposure to\u00a0environmental noise has adverse effects on the health\u00a0of the population,” the report concludes, citing\u00a0children as particularly vulnerable to the effects of\u00a0chronic urban and suburban racket. As air traffic increases worldwide and politicians\u00a0consider building noise-producing wind turbines in more\u00a0residential neighborhoods (see “Noise isn’t always loud,” below), the negative effects of\u00a0noise will only continue to grow unless more is done to abate \u00a0it, says environmental psychologist Arline Bronzaft, PhD, of\u00a0the City University of New York. Her now-classic study from\u00a0the 1970s was among the first to report the harmful effects of\u00a0subway noise on children’s learning, and she has advised four\u00a0New York City mayors on noise policy. New noise research in\u00a0the United State has been scarce,Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[163,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16500"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16500\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}