WEBlue

Yes, I think it's very individual, what each of us can & can't live with near our property. We met someone in our town whose property is near enough to a rural parkway to hear a steady hum of car traffic through a stretch of forest. They can't see the cars, and they can't always hear them if the windows are shut (--the wind has to be right, they said). It's a restricted-access car-only highway, so it's not as if huge lorries are thundering by...just a steady quiet hum much of the day & sometimes at night. I don't think I'd even notice much, especially once I'd lived there a while, though I suppose I would worry about pollution & emissions.

Several estate agents have told us about the "double yellow line" rule in US suburbs. If the road by the house has a double-yellow line (i.e. more traffic) then some people won't buy it. I'm not sure it would make any difference at all to me, as long as it wasn't a huge volume of noisy truck traffic or such.

I've always wanted to live somewhat near an elementary school. Not so close that the mums would block my drive, but not too far away to hear the sound of childrens' voices. I'd find that cheering, I think.

Yorkieabroad

I think thats right - when we were kids we used to go visit the old couple that Dad was evacuated to during the war. They had a flat in Stevenage, right next to the railway line. When the Intercity 125's came past the whole house shook and the noise was incredible. We used to stop talking till the train had passed, and the old couple used to look at us with a "whats wrong" sort of expression....they just raised their voices and shouted at each other over the din then went back to normal voices when it had passed - they didn't even kow they were doing it

Uncle Ebenezer

Only a woman could get away with posting that.

WEBlue

How delightful to hear from you again, Eb!!

Or...as my husband puts it...only a former teacher who loved her job could consider it a positive to live within earshot of a school. Guilty as charged!!

Steerpike

I hate them, up there with oil rigs offshore as an eyesore.

Pulaski

Get over it. More are coming, many more!

Sarah

There were a ton in Pennsylvania near where I used to live. Not too far from Scranton. They powered parts of Virginia apparently.
Don't mind them at all, looks like the Teletubby land to me.

WEBlue

This is my reaction too. If they're not too close, I barely notice them, except rather benignly, "Oh there's a windmill over there creating power for something..."

In this town we're considering, as I said before, the turbines are miles from us. We can't see or hear them from the area where we may buy a house. The people who live near enough to say they are affected have properties around a half-mile (give or take) from one or another of the turbines. Their complaints are mostly about the noise (especially at night) but also during the day when people are outside or their windows are open Some people find it impossible to ignore the noise and/or the pressured feeling and these folks say they get headaches from the noise/pressure, which leads to anxiety, depression, etc.

The odd thing is that not all the residents in the same band of houses at the same distance from the turbines have complaints. Some seem unaffected & unbothered.

Pulaski

That's just the same as those who live near major, or even minor, airports; some people who live nearby are perpetually stressed by the noise, others barely seem to notice it. I lived directly under the (generally inward) flight path at Heathrow and it didn't bother me. Later I lived much further away, to the south, which was under the outward flight path to the US when winds came from the north or east, and the noise was greater than living under the inward flight path, but still not something that bothered me at all.

WEBlue

We didn't quite realize what a hot topic this is in Massachusetts. Apparently the residents of at least one town (Falmouth) have lobbied successfully to get three wind turbines taken down. And affected residents of other towns (such as Kingston) are gathering & mounting opposition to turbines in operation near homes.

We viewed one house a mile from a proposed site for two large wind turbines, and we had a conversation with the owner and a realtor about the subject. We were told a mile was "probably far enough away" not to experience any health effects from the turbine, but the realtor urged us to read this article on WTS (wind turbine syndrome), since so many nearby towns were considering windturbines to lower electricity costs that she felt everyone needs to be educated:
http://www.windturbinesyndrome.com/w...news-articles/

jeffreyhy

My how time flies - Teddy's been dead longer than I realized.

WEBlue

Well yes, four years now? RIP EMK.

Michael

I suspect than there are many people (many more than the medical profession realizes) that have some sort of hearing disorder (hearing fatigue, ear fatigue, hyperacusis, acoustic shock disorder, or ringing in the ears) and don't realize that certain types of noises can cause side effects. Most of those disorders were likely initially caused by exposure to loud noises at concerts, gun shots close to the ears, or other excessive, abrupt, or distorted sounds.

For many people, the disorders appear to be minor and disappear but remain with the person all their life intermittently causing side effects such as headaches, depressions, anxiety, nausea, and many different types of aliments when exposed to certain types of sounds. Certain sounds that produce repetitive bursts of energy such as airplanes taking off can affect people with hearing disorders. Windmills may possibly not effect such people as long as the sound is constant but may possibly affect people if the sound is more of a swishing sound.

The medical profession doesn't really understand the disorders, many times can't even identify the disorders until they become severe, and have very little treatment for the disorders. It is my belief that all the disorders are basically the same disorder but effects different people in different ways.

WEBlue

I do agree. Young people don't realize how much damage things like being to close to loud amps at a music event can do...till much later in their lives.

From what I've heard anecdotally from people in real life (and also from some of the research I've done on this topic), what disturbs the people who ARE disturbed by the windmills is the variability of the sound they produce. I thought it might be a constant low-level noise, but it seems not. Apparently when the wind is strong the 'swishing' can become in some cases very loud and perhaps disturbing, especially at night. One older person mentioned being reminded of mortar attacks during the Vietnam War. Someone else who did not experience warfare simply called the sound "unbearable", said it was impossible to block out or ignore.

Michael

That is true and ear plugs are the worst things to use when a person has hearing disorders. When a person has a hearing disorder, they must hears sounds throughout the day as well as when sleeping or else the problems get worse. However they must hear the correct types of sounds.

Also different climate conditions can make the sounds appear louder.