• Donate to Keep the North Shore Country (501c3): for Letter to AES – Intent to Sue,  Endangered Bat litigation, and PUC Filing.

Follow the latest on Ku Kia’i Kahuku Website and Facebook: Ku Kia’i Kahuku Public Facebook Page – Videos, Updates, Public Information and Kū Kia’i Kahuku – A’ole Wind Turbines Facebook Page – Closed Group

Website maintained by Dawn Bruns* (Sunset Beach Resident, Sunset Beach Community Association board member) *The findings and conclusions in this website are those of the author and do not represent the official views of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Summary of public health effects expected to occur on Oahu from the low-frequency impulse sound from the proposed wind turbines Folder: Wind Turbine Noise Health Effects

• The Na Pua Makani 3.45 Vestas Megawatt turbines would be the largest wind turbines ever installed on land in the United States. Larger turbine blades cause higher levels of low-frequency sound (pulses of air pressure with each turbine blade pass).  As it is, the low-frequency air pressure pulses from existing smaller turbines have been preventing REM and deep sleep of residents within five miles – crippling resident learning and formation of memories and accelerating amyloid plaque formation and associated dementia progression).  I strongly recommend everyone get serious about monitoring their REM and deep sleep and take protective measures to prevent permanent damage to career development and progression of dementia (REM and deep sleep are associated with clearing tau and beta-amyloid proteins from the brain during sleep).  In October, when I first realized the turbines were the cause of my sleep disturbance, I tracked sleep quality by noting how I felt each morning; now I use an at-home EEG device Dreem headband – $500 (Dec holiday sale – $300) to monitor (to track REM and deep sleep) to assess whether you are getting your 3 hours of REM and deep sleep.  It is also crucial that residents assess their blood pressure at home, near the turbines, if their doctor’s office is not near the turbines to avoid permanent damage to their heart, kidneys, and other organs from undetected high blood pressure (which only occurred at home, near the turbines, but not at the doctor’s office removed from turbines).  Residents are also waking up with headaches (not caused by sleep apnea), and putting up with popping ears, dizziness, and behavioral problems in children.  As it is, the small existing turbines are endangering residents within five miles – distance affected would double in distance for each 3 decibels of low-frequency sound level increase caused by additional, and larger, turbines.
• Na Pua Makani, owned by AES Corporation from Arlington, Virginia, has inexplicably received approvals to construct eight Vestas 3.45 MW turbines (0.31 mile (502 meters, 549 yards, 1,648 feet) from the residential-zoned subdivision of Kahuku, where Kahuku Elementary, Kahuku High School, and Kahuku Medical Center and Emergency Room, and approximately 450 homes would be within 2,000 meters of the wind turbines.
• The 2014 TetraTech Noise Assessment in the EIS says, in black and white, the low-frequency noise from the wind turbines (if they were smaller 3.0 MW turbines assessed in their EIS) would cause 83 dB at 8 Hz and 76 dB at 16 Hz in the residential area of Kahuku, exceeding the 65 dB 16 Hz ANSI threshold for onset of annoyance / nuisance. and far exceeding the 45 dB 16 Hz threshold for severe impact from wind turbine low-frequency pulses shown in the graph below (Cape Bridgewater study by the wind farm itself, 2014).The noise attributes of the actual 3.45 MW turbine they are bringing in is not disclosed – all we know is the low frequency impulses from the 3.45 MW turbine will be higher sound pressure levels than any other wind turbine operating on land in the US (Larger Turbines = Higher Sound Pressure Pulses). Because the applicant’s own document anticipates nuisance noise, we don’t need to experience it to get it shut down.  Because the applicant’s noise assessment is for a 3.0 MW turbine and they are bringing in a 3.45 MW turbine, nothing more is needed to halt their construction (nuisance noise litigation summary) (Nuisance law, everybody has the right to do what they want with their property — as long and they don’t prevent me from using my property.), Getting Permits Does not Allow Nuisance Wind Farm to Operate).  There is no mitigation other than distance – the damages would far exceed the wind farm’s gross receipts (for power they dump into a tiny distribution line where most of it will dissipate as heat – this is crazy).  We can’t all go live in underground bunkers for the next 20 years to be able to sleep.  If these turbines are built, they are coming down.

• The proposed low-frequency sound levels are known to cause thickening of tissues of organs, 50x increased risk of developing epilepsey, genetic heritable changes (It says right in the Draft EIS the 8 Hz level will be 83 dB so that means the 1-2 Hz pulses will be around 25 dB higher, so around 106 dB at the schools).  See “Table 7” below – Russia set a 75 dB limit for 2 Hz low-frequency sound for “living and public premises” (and a 65 dB limit for 8 Hz sound). Occupational industrial premises limits are higher (up to 100 dB at 2 Hz, but there are time limits – see full text:  Stepanov 2000 Biological effects of low frequency oscillations, page 15

• Na Pua Makani’s EIS asserts “Adverse effects to property values not anticipated.”  The EIS also asserts there would be “no high or adverse effects to any minority or low income population and, therefore, no environmental justice issues resulting from this Project.”
•  Folder: Wind Turbine Noise Health Effects; Videos: Falmouth, MA Health Board 2012, 2019 NY Wind Turbine Health Hearings, Australia, New Zealand Residents, Infrasound Noise Equipment Midwest, UK residents 10 km setback request.).
• Honolulu, Kauai, and Maui will be exposed to low-frequency pulses of air (inaudible sound) from the Na Pua Makani wind turbines.  Even at my house’s three-mile close distance, most of the low-frequency sound from the current small turbines comes from above.
  

  Honolulu, Kauai, and Maui will be exposed to low-frequency pulses of sound from the Na Pua Makani wind farm. This figure from Physics Today (2000: https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/pdf/10.1063/1.883019).

• A high percentage of the Kahuku and Pupukea residents living within 1.3 miles (2,100 meters) of the smaller existing wind turbines are experiencing annoyance (including sleep disturbance, headaches after exposure to the wind turbines for two hours, waking with tinnitus, high blood pressure that resolves when the person moves away from the wind turbine, and children acting up).  These symptoms are markedly absent when the wind turbines are off.  I live three miles downwind from the 2.5 MW smaller turbines of the Kahuku Wind Farm and I get the normal three hours of REM and deep sleep in six to eight sleep cycles when the Kahuku turbines are off – even when it’s windy – and feel tired, even after sleeping 12 hours, when the turbines are on at night (and get an average of 30 minutes of REM and deep sleep those nights – For $500, you can buy a personal EEG to monitor REM sleep, and less accurate (but useful because the differences turbines on vs. turbines off/away from turbines is so great, you can use Whoop, Apple, or similar wristbands that monitor heart rhythm and calculates periods of REM sleep).  After three weeks of chronic sleep disturbance, I notice I have short-term memory problems – like someone with early signs of dementia – which go away after I get a week or so of normal sleep by traveling for work (or in January when the turbines in Kahuku were off for a period).   Below are screen captures from sound recordings at Sunset Beach under windy, light wind, and turbines off for maintenance conditions:
• 
• In Kahuku and Kawailoa (within two miles of the existing turbines), I get a headache – fullness in my head.  Within 1,400 meters of the turbines, I feel nauseous.  The Na Pua Makani Wind Farm would cause 8 Hz sound pressure level of 83 dB at Kahuku Elementary School – extraordinarily high levels of low-frequency sound.  The existing wind turbines are smaller than the proposed turbines – there are 30 2.3 MW turbines one mile (1,600 meters) downwind from the Pupukea neighborhood and there are 12 2.5 MW turbines 0.7 mile (1,200 meters) downwind from Kahuku.  If the existing turbines were not scheduled for removal in 12 years, it would be worthwhile to litigate to have the existing turbines removed due to nuisance noise.
• If the low frequency sound of the 3.45 MW turbine is only 3 dB higher than the current 2.5 MW turbines, the sound pressure level I am exposed to at my house when my sleep is disturbed by the current turbines, would occur 6 miles from the new turbines.  Laie and Sunset Beach would experience similar levels of low-frequency sound pressure level.  The rule of thumb for low-frequency sound attenuation is each increase of 3 dB, doubles the distance exposed to the annoyance-levels of low-frequency wind turbine noise.
• In 2011 through 2013, when these turbines became operational, residents in Kahuku and Pupukea, even in places where the wind farm noise is not audible, immediately noticed not feeling rested after “sleeping”, irritability, headaches, tinnitus, and heart palpitations. Chronic exposure to the wind turbines has given some people high blood pressure.  When the turbines are off (when there is no wind or they are all off for some other reason), children in Kahuku and Pupukea who are normally rambunctious and agitated in the morning (what the parents thought as their child’s normal personality) have noticeably calm mornings.
• When the existing smaller wind turbines in Kahuku and Kawailoa Wind Farms are off for the 5 m/s April – November low wind speed curtailment, or when they are down for maintenance during high winds, residents, even 3.2 miles away are now realizing we feel tired the next day, even after eight hours of “sleep”; when the turbines are completely off, it is striking how soundly we sleep.  We would like the existing turbines to be turned off at night to prevent endangered bat deaths and to enable us get a good night’s sleep.  In Wisconsin, eight 2.5 MW Clipper wind turbines (the same model as the 12 turbines currently operating in Kahuku) were declared a public health hazard because they adversely affected human health at residences 4.2 miles away (low-frequency sound detected in homes 6 miles away).
• One low-frequency noise source does not “mask out” another (as Na Pua Makani claims) – they are additive.  The 2014 noise assessment says the existing ambient sounds in these low frequencies sometimes exceeds the 16 Hz 65 dB annoyance threshold – Presumably from the existing wind turbines or the continuous white noise of large ocean surf rumbling across the reef.  The concerning thing is noise is cumulative – one source of noise does not “mask out” another – they are additive.  For this reason, the loud window AC units the wind farm funded for Kahuku schools (presumably to mask the audible turbine sound) are likely to backfire and cause the impulses of sound to appear even louder in the classrooms.  A 40 decibel 8 Hz pulse from a wind turbine in a soundscape with 40 decibel 8 Hz sound means distinguishable 44 decibel pulses from the turbine register.  (Note, Because decibels are logarithmic, 40+40 = 44, rather than 80).  Noise effects are cumulative – because Kahuku (from existing turbines) and the North Shore (during the winter swells) are already exposed to high levels of low-frequency noise, the impact of the proposed turbines would be even more serious than if the turbines were located somewhere with low levels of low-frequency sound.  At our house, North Shore breaking surf is usually white noise as the large whitewater rumbles across the Sunset/Backyards and Waialee reefs – only once in a while does a giant individual wave break on Twisted Sister and wake us up – surf can be giant and as long as Twisted Sister isn’t causing individual standout noise, we sleep very soundly when there is big surf (when the turbines are off).
• All of these adverse health effects constitute “nuisance” and “annoyance”.  The burden of proof for prosecuting nuisance is easy so that’s how wind farms all over the world are litigated.  The burden of proof for adverse health effects is more difficult; it is not necessary to say these are adverse effects to health – simply they are annoyance and nuisance.
• Low-frequency sound attenuates (decreases) at a rate of 3 dB per doubling of distance (Nasa 1985), the sound impulses experienced three miles from the smaller turbines would occur six miles from a turbine that is 3 decibels louder.  A turbine that is 6 dB higher pulse pressure would cause a person 12 miles away to experience the same pressure pulses we experience at three miles from the smaller existing turbines.  The island of Oahu is only 44 miles long.
• Two US wind farms have been taken down because of sleep disturbance, psychological conditions in children and adults, high blood pressure, and other adverse health effects, which are, in laws protecting US residents, considered “nuisance” and “annoyance” Falmouth, MA Health Board 2012, and Iowa, November 2018. Nuisance and annoyance include all of the adverse health effects, but have a lower burden of proof – nuisance is easy to prosecute.  If even one of the proposed 3.45 MW turbines is built and allowed to operate, the human health effects would be so far-reaching, I assume the City Council will legislate updated wind turbine size limits and setback requirements that will result in Na Pua Makani removal (or this may be a good time to re-consider splitting Honolulu’s rural areas into a separate county so we can protect ourselves).  It costs only $150,000 to take down one wind turbine.  And there will be no need for the estimated $100,000/day it is costing AES to arrest the public blocking the trucks hauling turbine parts to the wind farm.  AES indicated decommissioned wind turbine blades would be put in our landfill.  The wind turbines, tower sections, and blades should be loaded back on the ship they came in on.
• Prosecution at other wind farms is based on annoyance from wind turbine low-frequency (for instance 8 Hz) sound resonating structures in the audible 38-42 Hz, 60-80-110-115-120 Hz frequencies in homes, schools, the hotels, and the hospital with a line of sight to the new turbines.  If the turbines end up being built and allowed to operate, a class action law suit would require the affected people to raise a minimum of $700,000 (by taking out home equity loans, during a period when their home equity has evaporated because of the wind turbines) to pay lawyers and an expert witness acoustic specialist.  Class-action litigation enables residents, parents of affected school children (including wealthy North Shore lawyer parents), and the hotels to recuperate the harm done to them during any periods of time the turbines are allowed to operate.  Turtle Bay Resort, alone, with 400 rooms at $400/night reimbursing their guests who have trouble sleeping – at 80% full occupancy would cost them $128,000/night.  I have no idea what harm done to their 5-star ratings would do to Turtle Bay’s future profits, but I have a feeling Na Pua Makani is about to find out.  At maximum capacity, Na Pua Makani would only gross around $10 Million a year – so it’s ideal that AES is a multi-billion dollar company.
• AES Chief Operating Officer Mr. Miller’s assertion that these high-decibel impulses of audible and low-frequency sound from the spinning turbine blades would not directly affect human health is like saying cigarettes do not directly affect human health – as if the “direct” connection is limited to something like a pallet of cigarettes falling and crushing someone.
• The 65 dB ANSI threshold for low-frequency sound is based on effects of less-harmful traffic and aircraft noise.  The physiological response to wind turbine sound is significantly greater than the physiological response to the same decibel sound from traffic and aircraft noise Schaffer 2016.
• There is no safe place for a 3.45 MW wind turbine to operate on any island in Hawaii;  no turbine larger than 2.5 MW should be built on Oahu, and the existing 2.3 and 2.5 MW turbines should be shut down at night or moved farther away from our residential areas.  Alternatively, areas we want to operate industrial wind turbines near residential areas should be re-zoned industrial.
• To inform updated wind turbine setback requirements, ALL Oahu residents should begin noting, on a calendar, days you wake and feel well-rested.  If you have time, jot down the following each day when you wake up:
  You should also jot on a calendar each morning if you: Have a Headache? Have ringing in your ears? Feel very tired?  Children are quiet or agitated?  Because high blood pressure can occur after six months of chronic exposure to wind turbines, and the high blood pressure can resolve when the wind stops or when people living near turbines go to work in another town, it’s also important for Oahu residents to learn to monitor blood pressure at home.  Permanent damage to your heart and kidneys can develop from undetected, untreated high blood pressure.
• If you are interested in assessing whether or not the wind turbines are affecting your sleep, you can look at the hourly wind speed data for yourself.  April through November, all Hawaii wind turbines are shut down (to somewhat reduce bat kills) when wind is less than 5 meters/second (around 11 mph).  So if wind speed, all night, at the weather station 20 feet off the ground, was well below 11 mph, the turbines at Kahuku and Kawailoa Wind Farms were off all night, if it was near 10 mph, the turbines could have started up/stopped several times during that hour (Hourly Wind Speeds – James Campbell NWR weather station)
• If you find the current wind turbines have affected your health, send confidential health effects of the existing small wind turbines to: webmail@doh.hawaii.govand, to inform the November 22, 2019 hearing about Na Pua Makani Wind Farm, send general (not confidential) information about the health effects to PUC.comments@hawaii.gov Subject: Docket # 2013-0423 (the Na Pua docket number).
• Low frequency 16 Hz sound caused by the wind farm would exceed 65 dB – they do not disclose the distance the exceedence will occur; they do not disclose any sound information about the new 3.45 MW turbine.  The EIS indicates the 65 dB low frequency noise would be masked by existing noise, even though no such noise currently exists in their residential area noise monitoring data. Their EIS indicates “2.3.1 15BANSI S12.9 Part 4 The ANSI S12.9 Part 4 (ANSI 2005 https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ENwJAf_6lSUE98rhQKeeR2NcakcJbt4T ) provides guidelines for determining annoyance from sound propagating outdoors. Annex D of ANSI S12.9 Part 4 includes methods for assessing environmental sounds with strong low-frequency content. Annoyance is found to be minimal when sound levels in the low frequency midband frequencies of 16 – 63 Hz are less than 65 dB, which corresponds to the threshold for the onset of impacts in these lower frequencies. Part 4 also states that LFN passes through structures with relative ease and is nearly equal to outdoor predicted sound” “Negligible low frequency noise/infrasound impacts.” Page ES-6. Infrasound: “The nearest legal residence is located 814 feet (248 meters) from a proposed turbine. Low frequency noise/Infrasound level is predicted to be 83 dB at 8 Hz and 76 dB at 16 Hz which are both well below the threshold of human hearing and the DEFRA limits but higher than the ANSI S12.9 Part 4 guideline of 65 dB at 16 Hz. With regard to the 65 dB ANSI S12.9 Part 4 guideline, because the baseline sound levels are already above this threshold, the likelihood of complaints is low given that the low frequency noise/infrasound would be at least partially masked by existing low frequency noise / infrasound. Therefore, there is no anticipated low frequency noise / infrasound impact from the Project”.
• The EIS says there would be “no high or adverse effects to any minority or low income population and, therefore, no environmental justice issues resulting from this Project.” According to the Census Bureau, Kahuku has a total population of 2,614 people in 622 housing units (53% owner-occupied; 47% renting) that are 8.6% (224) white, 34% (888) Native Hawaiian; 26% (641) Filipino, and 31% (823) two or more races, 62% born in Hawai‘i, 23.5% born in foreign country. Twenty five percent of the of population 25 years and older did not graduate from high school; 53% of Kahuku residents completed no more than 8th grade.

Na Pua Makani Wind Farm’s gross misrepresentations of the effects of the 3.45 MW turbines to human health in their application submittals for various licenses and permits give the regulatory agencies grounds to rescind the Na Pua Makani Wind Farm licenses and permits without a need for litigation.

Impacts would be far-reaching – well beyond Kahuku:

Based on published sound data from other wind farms (see links to publications below) and the limited infrasound data provided by the developer, the 1 Hz low-frequency (inaudible) impulse sound produced by each turbine blade pass could be between 103 dB and 143 dB.  Because low-frequency sound does not attenuate rapidly like audible sound, these impulses would impact residents more than 30 miles away (see figure below).  These turbine blade impulses (spikes) of sound are below 1.5 Hz (harmonics develop at higher frequencies).

Residents many miles from the proposed Na Pua Makani Wind Farm would be exposed to chronic high-energy impulses of low-frequency, inaudible sound energy.  Link to Video of Oct 10, 2019 Koolauloa Neighborhood Board Meeting (starting at 56:00) and Link to Oct 10, Koolauloa Neighborhood Board Powerpoint

Impulses of the fundamental frequency, approximately 1 Hz, low-frequency sound would exceed 90 decibels at the two schools in Kahuku and may be 71 decibels in Kaaawa and Waialua.  If Na Pua Makani Wind Farm is allowed to operate during school hours, the schools and university in Kahuku, Laie, Sunset Beach, Haleiwa, Waialua, and Hauula should be closed to protect student health.  The Hawaiian Islands are too small to house such large wind turbines.  

Kahuku Community Association, Kū Kia’i Kahuku, Sunset Beach Community Association, North Shore Neighborhood Board members, Keep the North Shore Country, Life of the Land, State Senator Gil Riverie, State Rep Sean Quinlan, City Councilmember Heidi Tsuneyoshi, pro-bono lawyers, paid lawyers, and members of the community are working on many fronts to prevent implementation of Na Pua Makani Wind Farm.

(Video of Laie Community Association AES Presentation September 10 2019).

These proposed Na Pua Makani turbines would be the largest wind turbines ever built on land in the US.  The repetitive low-frequency impulses (0.5 to 1.5 Hz, inaudible sound (1 Hz sound has a wavelength of 1,100 feet (343 meters)) from each turbine downward blade pass of the tower (and the harmonics of that sound (2, 4, 6, 8 Hz, etc) adversely affect human sleep, blood pressure, and psychology.  Because these wind turbine health effects resolve (with the exception of permanent damage resulting from undetected, untreated conditions such as high blood pressure) when there is no wind or when people sell homes/move, the cause of these health conditions is attributed to the wind turbines (Reviewed in Punch and James 2016; Peer Reviewed Scientific Journal Articles Health Effects Wind Turbines: 2012, 2010; link to health effects references folder: Folder: Wind Turbine Noise Health Effects; Videos: Falmouth, MA Health Board 2012, 2019 NY Wind Turbine Health Hearings, Australia, New Zealand Residents, Infrasound Noise Equipment Midwest, UK residents 10 km setback request.).

Kū Kia’i Kahuku – A’ole Turbines (photo by Nate Yuen)

We need to know what the maximum sound pressure level of 0.5 to 1.5 Hz sound the turbine will produce. Based on the information in the wind farm’s 2014 noise study, and sound physics information, we can estimate anticipated low-frequency noise levels.  Because page 44 of the wind farm’s 2014 noise study discloses the low-frequency 8 Hz sound pressure level (if this were a 3.0 MW turbine, rather than the “louder 3.45 MW turbine) would be an extraordinary 83 dB at 205 meters (where the elementary school and residential subdivision are), sound pressure level at 8 Hz would exceed the 65 dB ANSI S12.9 Part 4 (ANSI 2005) Annex D threshold for onset of adverse effects to humans two miles away from the wind farm (based on 6 dB attenuation for the first 1.2 km, and 3 dB attenuation for the subsequent doubling of distance (Nasa 1985 and Hansen et al 2015).

Rhythmic low frequency impulses in the 0 to 1.5 Hz range are produced when the fast-moving turbine blade passes the support tower (harmonics of that frequency result at 2x, 4x, 8x etc., that fundamental frequency).  Low-frequency noise sound pressure level increases with turbine blade length and because available turbine size increases each year, previous noise research was conducted near turbines that are smaller and produce significantly less low-frequency (0-1.5 Hz) sound than the proposed Na Pua Makani 3.45 MW wind turbines.  The number of impulses per second increases and decreases with wind speed and adjustments made to the turbine blade – the human brain appears to be particularly interested in paying attention when the rhythm is changed. Each impulse also causes harmonics (see below).

Very high rates of adverse health effects would occur in the town of Kahuku if Na Pua Makani was allowed to operate.  Example of “Very high” rates of adverse effects: Nissenbaum et al 2012 found that more than 70% of people living within 1,400 meters of industrial wind turbines wish to move away from the wind turbine, 24% of them started new prescription psychotropic drugs in the six months to three and a half years since the turbines were installed (versus zero in the farther from turbines groups), and 36-64% reported improved sleep when away from the turbines (versus 4-9% of people living farther from turbines).  McMurtry 2011 and McMurtry and Krogh 2014 attribute the cause of adverse health effects to a wind turbine when the person resides within 3.1 miles (5,000 m, 5 km) of a wind turbine and symptoms ameliorate when the person moves farther than 3.1 miles (5 km) from the wind turbine.  The risk of adverse health effects is reduced four miles from wind turbines Nissenbaum et al 2012 although 2.5 MW Clipper turbines (the same model as the 12 at the Kahuku Wind Farm) were declared a public health hazard because they were adversely affecting resident’s health  4.2 miles (6,759 meters) away (Wisconsin eight 2.5 MW turbines declared public health hazard). 

List of Health effects of wind turbine inaudible low-frequency infrasound:  

High blood pressure (Sometimes only when the person is sleeping does their blood pressure become dangerously high – 24-hour monitors are sometimes needed to diagnose dangerously-high blood pressure caused by wind turbines.  Very dangerous permanent damage can occur if untreated, however, taking high blood pressure medication is particularly dangerous because when the resident near the wind farm takes medication to control the high blood pressure, the person’s blood pressure becomes dangerously low when the wind stops and when they move away from the wind turbines);

Sleep Disturbance: As it is, the low-frequency air pressure pulses from existing smaller turbines have been preventing REM and deep sleep of residents within five miles – crippling resident learning and formation of memories and accelerating amyloid plaque formation and associated dementia progression).  Humans normally get three hours of REM/deep sleep per night. REM and deep sleep are important for amyloid–beta (Aβ) and tau protein clearance (amyloid plaque cleared during REM sleep and tau protein cleared from brain during deep sleep) – deposition of these in your brain (if these are not cleared out of your brain during REM and deep sleep) leads to neuron damage and induce memory and cognitive impairment – you must monitor your REM and deep sleep using a Whoop wristband, Apple Watch, EEG monitor or other means (If you feel exhausted/leaden in the morning, chances are you are not getting the needed REM and deep sleep). I strongly recommend everyone get serious about monitoring their REM sleep and take protective measures to prevent permanent damage to career development and progression of dementia – In October, when I first realized the turbines were the cause of my sleep disturbance, I tracked sleep quality by noting how I felt each morning, then my neighbors and I confirmed the relationship between our sleep and the turbine operations using Whoop wristbands (and I started driving to Mililani and Mokuleia on nights the turbines affect my sleep), and on Monday a doctor suggested this forehead EEG device to comfirm REM sleep.

In Kahuku town and Sunset Beach, parents report children are sleeping poorly when the existing smaller wind turbines are on – agitated, not staying in their beds, not sleeping through the night.  And when the turbines are off for whatever reason, children sleep through the whole night and don’t have tantrums in the morning.  Most adults in Kahuku and Sunset Beach who are tracking the quality of their sleep in relation to turbine operation also notice improved sleep when the turbines are off (or when the turbine blades are feathered so the RPMs is reduced), even on windy nights with large ocean swells (where there would be a lot of ambient infrasound).  Some of my best sleep is on nights when there is giant surf, audible because I live near the beach.  If the turbines are off, people who wake feeling tired when the turbines are on wake feeling well-rested – and we’ve been dreaming lately because most of the turbines have been off or operating a low power for most of the last two weeks – a huge relief – for those of us who have not dreamed most of the last six years with the wind turbines affecting our sleep.  Three miles away, I am in bed at least 9 hours each night, and I have been getting zero to 30 minutes of REM sleep when the existing turbines are on – I wake feeling tired and with a headache (I don’t have sleep apnea) when the turbines are on (I also get a headache when I have dinner at Turtle Bay and when I spend more than an hour in Kahuku and Kawailoa/Laniakea area).  When all but a few turbines are off and the turbines that are on are spinning at a low RPM, I wake feeling well-rested, I get six to ten cycles of REM and deep sleep, and my mind feels clear.

Tachycardia [abnormal heart beat] and heart palpitations (usually at night, appears to begin to occur approximately six months after the wind farm has been operating; resolves when the person is away on a work trip or when they sell their house and move to safety);

Headaches: Headaches occur within about an hour of exposure (within 2 miles) of the existing 2.5 MW turbines, and resolves about 30 minutes after leaving the wind farm area, headaches are occurring.  These seem to be classified as migraines – the reported pain is either sharp pain (but focused on the entire forehead or front/top of the head, rather than starting on one side or the other) or a dull pain from a feeling of fullness/pressure of the whole head;

Irritability (Children’s irritability and misbehavior is often attributed to their age, until the turbines are off and the children are normal or family moves away from the wind farm and the parents notice the child isn’t irritable);

Panic attacks (Seems to be associated with tachycardia and startling awake at night, occurring a distance of three miles from wind turbines (Nissenbaum et al 2012) MA, Aramini JJ, Hanning CD. Effects of industrial wind turbine noise on sleep and health. Noise & Health, 2012;14:237-243);

Tinnitus, feeling ears popping (which could be vestibular migraine), Nausea, Feeling Carsick, and Visual blurring

The sound pressure of sounds at frequencies below 10 Hz is generally not high enough (loud enough) to be audible to humans (dogs can hear low frequencies better than humans, and whales, elephants, and other animals regularly communicate using low-frequency sound, low-frequency sound).  However, the structures of the human ear are very attuned to detecting low-frequency sound because this is the range of sound produced by very dangerous things such as volcanoes, avalanches, and earthquakes.  It’s likely that this is why the wind turbine blade impulses detected by our ear are of great interest to our brain (even when we are asleep and completely unaware of the impulses).  Turbine blade startup and stoppages, and changes in blade rotation speed appear to be particularly problematic (the brain appears to pay particular attention when changes in the rhythm occur).  The physiological response to wind turbine sound is significantly greater than the physiological response to the same decibel sound from traffic and aircraft noise Schaffer 2016 and Rapley 2019.

Many People Will Feel Pressing Need to Get Away from the Turbines; The Danger is Greater for Those Who Stay:  People who are uncomfortable because of the low-frequency wind turbine sound will be motivated to find a way out (due to nausea, feeling carsick, visual blurring, headaches, irritability, panic attacks with sensations of internal quivering, feeling ears popping, or tinnitus).  This is expected to be approximately 30% of people – and tend to be the people who also experience motionsickness, people with damage to their hearing, people who experience migraines, people younger than six, and kupuna. The remaining 70% of people would not experience discomfort, but by staying near the turbines, they would face serious health consequences including high blood pressure and adverse permanent damage to their heart. 

Sensitization:  To make matters worse for Kahuku and Haleiwa residents, humans don’t habituate to low-frequency sound – previous exposure sensitized people to the sound, increasing their risk of health effects with exposure.  North Shore residents who have been chronically exposed to the smaller levels of infrasound from the 12 smaller 2.5 MW Kahuku wind turbines 1,200 meters from the residential area, and the Pupukea residents 1,600 meters away from the 30 3.0 MW Kawailoa wind turbines may be more sensitive to wind turbine low-frequency sound than people who have not been exposed.  People with previous chronic exposure to a wind turbine may have a heightened physiological response to the effects of wind turbines.

Wind Turbine Low-Frequency Sound Measurement and Sound Attenuation with Distance:

Examples of sonograms of the sound recorded near wind turbines are shown below.  The first figure shows 13-seconds of sound – full-spectrum, including audible noise: