has anyone made a complaint about a wind farm before? The noise is driving me mad [title edited by MNHQ at poster's request]

[Backstreetsbackalrightdadada]

I thought it was from our house, because it’s all around the house. It’s like someone twanging a low note on a guitar and leaving it like that. Like a distant ship horn but lower and fairly constant.

We live in a very remote area. It started maybe a year ago. Older people can’t hear it but young ones can. It can be heard in nearby hamlets.

It happens all times of day and night.

We don’t have any factories nearby or industrial estates but do wind farms, a village and a quarry.

Help!!

Something must have been installed a year ago. Could be a canny distance even. Irritating when there's a constant noise. I can't even stand the heating on at night due to the hum of the boiler.

Hmm - I was going to say a grain dryer (we have one nearby we can hear) but that wouldn't go on for the whole year...

There hasn’t been any new/upgrades to electricity pylons near you has there? My friend lives near a route of pylons that have been upgraded to new equipment recently and the low level hum is driving her insane.

And all hours - through the night. It gets so loud sometimes, louder than any appliances in the kitchen for example. It’s SO strange as the whole area is very peaceful, and now it sounds like an industrial hum at random hours. Is there a way of figuring out where it’s from? Are there noise pollution people who can investigate and has anyone tried this before?

Right now it’s like having the radio on medium volume, it’s really infuriating (and I’m a relaxed person normally!)

I would say the wind farm - was that built a year ago?

I think you've answered your own question with the wind farm.

Have you ruled out tinnitus on your part? Tinnitus sounds are known to be worse in quiet areas, or where there is lower levels of natural background noise.

If not, the wind farm or quarry would be my best guess. A slightly misconfigured part possibly.

You're not in Hythe are you? www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-24584431

Is it not one of those deterrents for young people? Forget the name but it basically emits a high pitched noise younger people can hear to avoid them congregating.
I’m 33 and can still hear them but apparently usually around 25 when you stop hearing them 🤷🏻‍♀️

Wish I was young enough to hear those sounds :) no, won’t be a young person deterrent (if they’re called that!). Very possibly the wind farm but when you look it up online everyone says they don’t cause noise pollution it is a very big wind farm…

I would say wind farm too, especially if you’re down-wind of it.

The Global Hum ?

The Hum
thehum.info/

This sounds so silly as we are down wind from it…. Will Google how to raise complaints

Just to ask… has anyone made a noise complaint before about wind farms? It’d be pretty devastating for them to investigate and go “oh forget about it”, the noise keeps me up at night even

@Backstreetsbackalrightdadada

Wish I was young enough to hear those sounds :) no, won’t be a young person deterrent (if they’re called that!). Very possibly the wind farm but when you look it up online everyone says they don’t cause noise pollution it is a very big wind farm…

Yes the wind farm companies do always say this. But surely with wind going through the blades, no matter how technical/aerodynamic they are, there's going to be some noise. Plus there are mechanical/electrical parts inside, for when they are turned off, slowed down etc. I would find out who manages the wind farm, as they should have a fairly good PR/comms/complaints/whatever team - they are usually pretty big on community outreach, at least during the planning and construction phases!

Sounds like the hum. There was another thread about it a while ago.

So lol… have googled further and there’s an action group in the county nearer the wind farms who say their lives have been ruined by a low hum driving them mad. Well well well… Another way to describe it is like hearing hand dryers in the next door room, it’s constant now. I’ve checked the weather report and we are indeed currently downwind from the wind farm. How anyone lives like this… it’s awful

Is there an electricity pylon or telephone wire near you? We used to walk past a road with a telephone wire that made a really loud hum - DH couldn’t hear it but I heard it loud and clear. After a couple of years I stopped hearing it - I either became too old to hear the frequency or the cable was fixed.

I saw the title and thought " it's the Hum".

If it's the wind farm, the noise should be changing depending on wind direction and wind speed, so check that.

Not near any cables or anything like that, and I hear it in empty fields. Will check about wind direction! Just want to know the council will actually check and care - it honestly nearly makes me cry it’s so awful. Sure they’ll fob us off because the wind farm is huge

There’s videos on You Tube that play the sound of wind farms. Does it sound like that?

They're not going to turn it off OP. Moving would be more realistic.

A village up the road from us tried to get a wind turbine removed because of the flickering light it caused. They were partly successful; the turbine operators did amend the turbine to try and stop it. Might be worth pursuing in case there’s something similar they can do to stop noise? www.edp24.co.uk/news/equipment-to-stop-kessingland-wind-turbines-disturbing-villagers-was-not-502918

There will be noise monitoring requirements as part of the planning permission. Ask the Planning Authority for the information or check online who analyses it,

How close is it to you OP? I'm thinking of relocating and am noise-sensitive to start with, so would like to know how far the noise travels.

Do look up Flare Calmer, they won't completely block out the noise but they could well dumb it down to manageable levels for you whilst you're trying to get something done about it.