scholarly journals Annoyance Related to Wind Turbine Noise

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Pawlaczyk-łuszczyńska ◽  
Adam Dudarewicz ◽  
Kamil Zaborowski ◽  
Małgorzata Zamojska-Daniszewska ◽  
Małgorzata Waszkowska

Abstract A questionnaire inquiry on response to wind turbine noise was carried out on 361 subjects living in the vicinity of 8 wind farms. Current mental health status of respondents was assessed using Goldberg General Health Questionnaire GHQ-12. For areas where respondents lived, A-weighted sound pressure levels (SPLs) were calculated as the sum of the contributions from the wind power plants in the specific area. Generally, 33.0% of respondents were annoyed outdoors by wind turbine noise at the calculated A-weighted SPL of 31-50 dB, while indoors the noise was annoying to 21.3% of them. The proportion of subjects evaluating the noise produced by operative wind turbines as annoying decreased with increasing the distance from the nearest wind turbine (27.6% at the distance of 400-800 m vs 14.3% at the distance above 800 m, p < 0.016). On the other hand, the higher was the noise level, the greater was the percentage of annoyed respondents (14.0% at SPL up to 40 dB vs 28.1% at SPL of 40-45 dB, p < 0.016). Besides noise and distance categories, subjective factors, such as general attitude to wind turbines, sensitivity to landscape littering and current mental health status, were found to have significant impact on the perceived annoyance. About 50% of variance in annoyance rating might be explained by the aforesaid subjective factors.

Author(s):  
Małgorzata Pawlaczyk-Łuszczyńska ◽  
Kamil Zaborowski ◽  
Adam Dudarewicz ◽  
Małgorzata Zamojska-Daniszewska ◽  
Małgorzata Waszkowska

The aim of this study was to evaluate the perception and annoyance of noise from wind turbines in populated areas of Poland. A questionnaire inquiry was carried out among 517 subjects, aged 18–88, living within 204–1726 m from the nearest wind turbine. For areas where respondents lived, A-weighted sound pressure levels (SPLs) were calculated as the sum of the contributions from the wind power plants in the specific area. It has been shown that the wind turbine noise at the calculated A-weighted SPL of 33–50 dB was perceived as annoying or highly annoying by 46% and 28% of respondents, respectively. Moreover, 34% and 18% of them said that they were annoyed or highly annoyed indoors, respectively. The perception of high annoyance was associated with the A-weighted sound pressure level or the distance from the nearest wind turbine, general attitude to wind farms, noise sensitivity and terrain shape (annoyance outdoors) or road-traffic intensity (annoyance indoors). About 48–66% of variance in noise annoyance rating might be explained by the aforesaid factors. It was estimated that at the distance of 1000 m the wind turbine noise might be perceived as highly annoying outdoors by 43% and 2% of people with negative and positive attitude towards wind turbines, respectively. There was no significant association between noise level (or distance) and various health and well-being aspects. However, all variables measuring health and well-being aspects, including stress symptoms, were positively associated with annoyance related to wind turbine noise.


Author(s):  
Hassan Fahim Devin ◽  
Davood Farbod

Abstract Quality of Work Life (QWL) is a multi-dimensional concept that covers employees’ feelings about various dimensions of work. The current study focused on QWL that can contribute to the mental health status and Organisation-Based Self-Esteem (OBSE) of employees in context of sport organisation in Iran. In this descriptive–correlative study, data was collected using three standard questionnaires: Goldberg’s (1978) General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), Pierce, Gardner, Cummings and Dunham's (1989) OBSE scale, and Walton’s (1975) QWL questionnaire. The statistical sample of the study consisted of 67 (53 male, 14 female) employees of sport and youth organisations of the Northern Khorasan Province of Iran. The alpha value for mental health, OBSE and QWL questionnaires were, respectively, 0.82, 0.80, 0.79. QWL was significantly correlated with mental health status and self-esteem of employees. Thus, it can be concluded that mental health and self-esteem of employees depend on how these employees perceive QWL in organisations. Among QWL subscales, fair and adequate pay along with growth opportunities were the strongest predictors of mental health; growth opportunities along with development of human capabilities were the strongest predictors of self-esteem of employees. Our study adds to the growing body of research on mental health status in relation to factors such as QWL. In view of our findings, we hope that improving work environment as a means of improving one’s mental health status will be more emphasized by organisation managers.


2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 20-27
Author(s):  
H. Y. Jaddou

Adolescent Jordanian returnees from Kuwait during the 1991 Gulf War were expected to have elevated rates of psychiatric disorders, therefore their mental health status was examined. We evaluated 1376 newly enrolled students in two public universities in northern Jordan using an Arabic translation of the self-administered General Health Questionnaire. The overall rate of psychiatric disorders among the study sample was 23.3%; the rate among adolescent returnees [30.8%] was significantly higher than among other adolescents [22.4%]. Although psychiatric disorders were generally common among Jordanian adolescents, the exposure of Jordanian children in Kuwait to the Gulf War was still detrimental to their mental health status as adolescents


2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-154
Author(s):  
Shima Nazari ◽  
◽  
Pouya Farokhnezhad Afshar ◽  
Leila Sadegh Moghdada ◽  
Alireza Namazi Shabestari ◽  
...  

Introduction: The elderly need social support to reduce their physical and mental disabilities. Perceived social support is one of the effective factors in the lifestyle of older adults. Objective: This study aimed to determine the association between perceived social support and mental health status among older adults. Materials and Methods: This research is a cross-sectional analytical study. The study data were collected using a perceived social support (PSS) scale and general health questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12). A total of 302 eligible older adults were selected through a random sampling method from primary health centers in the north, south, east, west, and center of Tehran. The inclusion criteria were those community-dwelling older adults aged ≥60 years and with normal cognitive abilities. The collected data were analyzed using t test, ANOVA, the Pearson correlation, and multiple linear regressions. Results: The mean ±SD age of older adults was 70.01 ±6.29 years. Their mean ±SD scores of the PSS and GHQ-12 were 130.95 ±16.05 and 7.29 ±5.55, respectively. The results showed no significant relationship between demographic variables and PSS. There was a significant inverse correlation between the PSS score and the GHQ-12 score (P= 0.01, r= -0.878). The PSS explained 0.66 of the total variances of “positively phrased items” of GHQ-12 (adjusted R2= 0.66) and 0.76 of the total variances of “negatively phrased items” of GHQ-12 (adjusted R2= 0.76). Conclusion: Our findings showed that the PSS and mental health are at a desirable level in this study, and the PSS is not affected by demographic variables. The PSS is a promoting factor for mental health status among older adults.


2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 737-739
Author(s):  
Ergang Zhu ◽  
Jun Sun ◽  
Tianhua Du

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE The purpose of our study was to confirm the relationship between low-intensity exercise and physical and mental health status among college students in China. METHODS This was a school-based cross-sectional study. The physical and mental health status was measured using a 12-item general health questionnaire(GHQ12) and low-intensity exercise was recorded by a self-reporting questionnaire. RESULTS The results revealed that the score of the GHQ12 was inversely associated with a higher frequency of low-intensity exercise (r=-0.38,p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS Our study suggests that low-intensity exercise may be a proper mean for improving the physical and mental health status of college students. School departments should take measures to push students to take part in physical activity.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Stephanie Molina ◽  
Sarah Jane Racal

Background: Stress, especially among young people, leads to life-threatening mental conditions such as depression and suicide. Nursing students, in particular, are exposed to different kinds of stress such as pressures from both academic and clinical exposures coupled with expectations to succeed. These stressors influence individual coping styles which may eventually affect students’ mental, physical, and over-all wellbeing leading to the decline in their learning and academic performance. Aims: This descriptive-correlational study was aimed at exploring the relationships among stress, coping, and mental health status among nursing students at a private university in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand. Methods: Using a systematic random sampling, a descriptive cross-sectional study was done among one hundred and fifty 3rd and 4th year nursing students under the international nursing program. The Perceived Stress Scale, Brief COPE, and the General Health Questionnaire were used to assess the level of stress, the coping strategies used, and the mental health status of the respondents. Descriptive statistics, t-test, and Pearson’s correlation were used to answer the research questions. Results: It revealed that the nursing students had moderate level of perceived stress, used acceptance as the most common form of coping, and substance use and denial as the least used. Furthermore, the respondents had mild level of mental health related-illness. Significant gender differences were found in the perceived level of stress, and use of coping strategies. While mental health status significantly differed according to year level and interest in nursing. Significant mild to moderate relationships were found among perceived stress level, coping strategies, mental health status, and selected socio-demographic variables. Conclusion: The findings of the study provide additional useful information on the relationships of stress, coping, and health outcomes. Results can also be useful in creating a stress management program for nursing students such as awareness on individual stress response and reinforcing the use of healthy coping strategies. 


2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (02) ◽  
pp. 1550020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milad Abbasi ◽  
Mohammad Reza Monnazzam ◽  
SayedAbbolfazl Zakerian ◽  
Arsalan Yousefzadeh

Noise from wind turbines is one of the most important factors affecting the health, welfare, and human sleep. This research was carried out to study the effect of wind turbine noise on workers' sleep disorder. For this, Manjil Wind Farm, because of the greater number of staff and turbines than other wind farms in Iran, was chosen as case study. A total number of 53 participants took part in this survey. They were classified into three groups of mechanics, security, and official. In this study, daytime sleepiness data of workers were gathered using Epworth Sleepiness Scales (ESS) was used to determine the level of daytime sleepiness among the workers. The 8-h equivalent sound level (LAeq,8h) was measured to determine the individuals' exposure at each occupational group. Finally, the effect of sound, age, and workers' experience on individuals' sleep disorder was analyzed through multiple regression analysis in the R software. The results showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between age, workers' experience, equivalent sound level, and the level of sleep disorder. When age is constant, sleep disorder will increase by 26% as per each 1 dB increase in equivalent sound level. In situations where equivalent sound level is constant, an increase of 17% in sleep disorder is occurred as per each year of work experience. Because of the difference in sound exposure in different occupational groups. The effect of noise in repairing group was about 6.5 times of official group and also 3.4 times of the security group. Sleep disorder effect caused by wind turbine noise in the security group is almost two times more than the official group. Unlike most studies on wind turbine noise that address the sleep disorder among inhabitants nearby wind farms, this study, for the first time in the world, examines the impact of wind turbine noise on sleep disorder of workers who are more closer to wind turbines and exposed to higher levels of noise. So despite all the good benefits of wind turbines, it can be stated that this technology has health risks for all those exposed to its sound. However, further research is needed to confirm the results of this study.


Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiufa Cao ◽  
Weijun Zhu ◽  
Xinbo Wu ◽  
Tongguang Wang ◽  
Haoran Xu

Recently attention has been paid to wind farm noise due to its negative health impact, not only on human beings, but also to marine and terrestrial organisms. The current work proposes a numerical methodology to generate a numerical noise map for a given wind farm. Noise generation from single wind turbines as well as wind farms has its basis in the nature of aerodynamics, caused by the interactions between the incoming turbulent flow and the wind turbine blades. Hence, understanding the mechanisms of airfoil noise generation, demands access to sophisticated numerical tools. The processes of modeling wind farm noise include three steps: (1) The whole wind farm velocity distributions are modelled with an improved Jensen’s wake model; (2) The individual wind turbine’s noise is simulated by a semi-empirical wind turbine noise source model; (3) Propagations of noise from all wind turbines are carried out by solving the parabolic wave equation. In the paper, the wind farm wake effect from the Horns Rev wind farm is studied. Based on the resulted wind speed distributions in the wind farm, the wind turbine noise source and its propagation are simulated for the whole wind farm.


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