It is a flavour I have not tasted, a colour I have not seen and an argument I can not think of so I convince myself of this.
this post was submitted on 10 May 2026
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Data centres are the new windmills?
Here's a short video that goes into the specific and how this affects surrounding neighborhoods.
Datacenters Behaving Like Acoustic Weapons
My first thought was that Benn Jordan did a great bit of video journalism on this, but it's already linked from the article, although without any other mention of it.
Dude is just a wealth of interesting videos.
He really is, I found him from his Flock videos and have since binge watched everything he's made.
The music that he makes for the videos is a wonderful cherry on top of the great information and presentation.
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
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.
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.
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.
Exposure to this level of infrasound
What level is that?
The article mentions 96 dB for 24 hours a day
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), a non-profit organization, said that high- and low-frequency sounds emitted by these industrial sites can be heard and felt for hundreds of feet in surrounding areas, with noise levels reaching as high as 96dB for 24 hours a day and seven days a week.
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.
There is a lot of research on this.
You provided none
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?
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?
I hope MAHA is also livid over this.
Make America Hard Again?
Make America Hopeless Again
I would have assumed: Make America Hate Again, as it rhymes.
My Aunt Hates Ants
lol
Is that one in the picture right next to a school? God imagine how republican those idiotic kids are going to grow up to be.
As far as I understood, those noises would come from gas or diesel electricity generators and cooling systems.
Yes, but also just from the fans and air movement inside the facility too. I work near a datacenter in a basement with thick concrete walls, and you can still hear the servers from outside. And the racks in that one are only half full.
So, is this like, playing the brown noise and everyone nearby just constantly shits themselves?