this post was submitted on 10 May 2026
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Is there any research on this?
Back in the 90s, there was a theory that living near power-lines was unhealthy, but later shown to be bunk. Also similar to "electro magnetic sensitivity" like Chuck in "Better Call Saul". Does inaudible sound effect people's health?
Ultrasonic sounds (above 20 kHz) can cause physical symptoms in humans, particularly at high intensities ((>75\text{ dB})), including headaches, dizziness, nausea, ringing in the ears (tinnitus), and fatigue
Animal studies have demonstrated internal tissue alterations at specific frequencies and intensities
https://www.nature.com/nature-index/topics/l4/ultrasonic-exposure-effects-on-human-health
this is also used as weaponry
Yes, infrasound is a fairly well understood phenomenon. Loud noise at frequencies below 10 Hz isn't commonly picked up by recording equipment but can induce things like anxiety, nausea, and sleep problems. While recently wind power plants have sometimes been accused of generating it, it's also been caused by industrial fans and even resonance in a building's ductwork.
It wouldn't surprise me if a data center's AC caused enough noise at frequencies not normally monitored to become an issue.
Anxiety, nausea and sleep problems can be caused by many things. One of those things is believing that a nearby datacenter is making you ill.
Sure, investigate it and see if it is actually happening. But, do a proper double-blind study.
I take this personally because my mother is a conspiracy nut who thinks that everything is making her ill: wifi, chemtrails, street lights, electricity, gluten... if she heard about infrasound she'd add it to the list of things that are hurting her health.
You don't need a double-blind study to determine if acoustic emissions are the culprit. You just need to measure specifically for infrasound (and ultrasound, for that matter). It's an unusual form of pollution but very much measurable if you know to look for it.
Unlike the things you mentioned, infrasound is understood to be a thing these days and is sometimes considered in construction. It's not exactly witchcraft; most equipment (including decibel meters) just isn't built to account for very low frequencies.
If the data center does put out noise at very low frequencies that's probably some kind of unintended resonance that they'll have to stop. It might be as simple as slightly changing the RPMs of some cooling fans or installing sound proofing in specific places.
It's very likely that she does have some sort of health problem and doctors weren't useful in finding it. It's very hard not to be superstitious in that situation
most of these are a psyop to make the real things sound phony
Pipelines also cause a resonance hum that some people CAN hear for miles, and it drives them batshit.
There's a steam plant for my local hospital about 300m from my house. When I'm in my basement trying to record drums, I can audibly hear when the plant is running. Super low, sub-50hz hum. It gets into all my mics.
Fortunately my bedroom is on the second floor of the house so the resonance doesn't keep me up at night.
In one case, apparently, the infranoise was at the right frequency to resonate with the eye and cause people to hallucinate. This was due to a fan in a basement, not an entire data center.
[citation needed]
I fully believe that at times infrasound can result in anxiety, nausea, etc. But, in 2026 so can reading the news. So can thinking that your health is being affected by a datacenter, resulting in you worrying and losing sleep.
This whole thing about the "resonant frequency of the eye" and that causing someone to hallucinate... that smells like utter BS. A much more likely explanation in a basement is carbon monoxide.
I believe the poster is referring to The Ghost in the Machine, Published in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol.62, No 851 April 1998 (pdf)
There is a lot of research on this. Exposure to this level of infrasound has negative effects on anxiety, the ability to sleep, and even cardiac function. Those who experience the level exposure associated with living close by to these datacenters can start to experience negative effects on their hearts ability to contract properly after as little as one hour. Take into account these people are exposed to this every hour, hour after hour, for years if not the rest of their natural lives.
You provided none
What level is that?
The article mentions 96 dB for 24 hours a day
It says "these industrial sites" so it's making a generalization, it says "as high as" so that's presumably the maximum they measured at one of those many sites. They also talk about high and low frequency sound, so it may not be the infrasound that is "loud" but the high frequency sound, which doesn't as easily travel through the ground, etc.
Because sound tends to follow an inverse square law, if they measured that 96 dB at 100m from the sound's source, it could be just 2% of that level at 800m away.
So, that "96 dB" figure needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The figure as actually measured in some person's home might be a tiny fraction of that amount.
Again, it doesn't mean there's no problem, just that it needs some further investigation.
Lots of research has been done on this. But I would highly recommend watching the YouTube video that was posted by the top commenter instead of trying to dig through what's out there.
Dude living near large scale powerlines does cause health problems.
I've never heard of that. What sort of problems? And is there research to back it up?
Lot cancers and not talking about your average powerlines.
Talking about lines like this. Been near these? You can literally hear the power going through the lines.
Idk, seems shaky at best. Not sure what hearing the lines matters.
According to what science?
I think you misunderstood Chuck's medical condition.
Would you care to elaborate?
He doesn't have any condition where he senses electromagnetic fields. It's a condition he made up entirely in response to how Jimmy violates Chuck's world view where Jimmy is inferior to Chuck. It started soon after Jimmy got a law degree, it got better when Jimmy worked under Chuck, because Chuck liked being his boss and controlling Jimmy's big case. It got worse when they had a falling out. It got way worse after Chicanery where Jimmy proved he can be a better lawyer.
If Chuck actually had an issue, how did he function as a successful lawyer for most of his life? When he had severe symptoms, it was all around his head, his ears rang, his eyes hurt, his head hurt, so how was a reflective liner in his jacket sufficient to protect him for a season or so? Why does he routinely only experience symptoms after being told about hidden electronics?
It's pretty clear it's a BS condition. Jimmy even tests him. It doesn't mean that Chuck is lying, it's also pretty clear from the show that it's some kind of Nocebo Effect. He doesn't want to believe he's a bad person, so his body effectively comes up with this "solution" to the problem.
Right. I think the person you replied to was saying, is infrasound sickness or whatever also psychosomatic, like Chuck's thing. Seems like this one may actually be real, but I don't think they misunderstood Chuck's condition.
Wind Turbines can also cause this kind of disturbance. I remember seeing something about a lawsuit over that.
Just because there was a lawsuit doesn't make it true.
That's right. Even if the person won the lawsuit it doesn't mean the science is true. It's one really frustrating thing about the legal system, sometimes people win lawsuits based on absolutely terrible BS science. A persuasive lawyer has to convince a jury that something is true, not convince a scientist who knows about that field.
just because one thing turned out not to be true, it doens't automatically mean you don't have to believe any other claims.
A lawsuit being filed doesn't equal scientific or medical fact. You can file a lawsuit for literally anything.
Without concrete, peer reviewed studies, windmills causing health issues is just as believable as wifi causing health issues.
yeah I was kinda implying that the people filing the lawsuits were on all that business, just didn't feel like spelling out the vague details I remember from a newspiece a year or so ago,