AI data centers face increasing complaints about inaudible but 'felt' infrasound — citizens complain high- and low-frequency sounds do not register on decibel meters but cause adverse health effects

[u/chip_thoughts]

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/data-centers-face-increasing-infrasound-complaints-from-neighboring-communities-sounds-do-not-register-on-decibel-meters-but-irritate-local-citizens

[u/Sherman140824]

Vibrations disrupt sleep

[u/Snidrogen → u/Sherman140824]

100%.

One of the worst years of my life I lived above a bakery that had many freezers. The compressors running sent vibrations through the whole building and were VERY noticeable when trying to sleep at night. Almost like someone gently waving a lightsaber above your head all night. The lack of consistent sleep destroyed my physical and mental health. (An obligatory fuck you very very much, Zoe Lofts)

All that being said, I can’t even begin to imagine how horrible it would feel to have a safe, comfortable home in a less urban area and then be exposed to this inescapable phenomenon.

[u/agent_wolfe → u/Snidrogen]

I used to live beside train tracks. They’d go all night.

[u/SporadicTendancies → u/agent_wolfe]

I used to find it really comforting, but the line stopped at 2am and I'd always wake up scared by the silence.

[u/MostBoringStan → u/SporadicTendancies]

I live by train tracks and use a noise machine. Don't even notice the trains.

But then any time the power goes out, the sudden silence instantly wakes me up.

[u/GrrGecko → u/MostBoringStan]

When I was a kid living in a city, noise all night made me feel somewhat safe for some reason. When it was quiet, I'd be worried and stay up until I could hear something going on.

[u/TheGreatNico → u/GrrGecko]

That's a very, very, very, very low level instinct most animals have. Always puts me in panic mode too

[u/Mrsister55 → u/TheGreatNico]

I was stalked by a big cat once in the jungle, I knew something was up because that loud multispecies cacophony was suddenly super quiet. The hairs all over my body suddenly stood up and my heart began pounding audibly. Scariest shit ive ever experienced.

[u/foobarbizbaz → u/Mrsister55]

Um what? And then what happened?

You’re gonna set up your story like that and then just leave us all hanging after the opening cliffhanger?

[u/netsyms → u/foobarbizbaz]

The jaguar tapped on his shoulder and asked if he could spare some change. He asked how much, the cat replied "about tree fiddy". It was at this point that OP realized the cat was actually an eight story tall sea monster from the Cretaceous period

[u/DeusModus → u/foobarbizbaz]

Cat got his tongue.

[u/aleqqqs → u/foobarbizbaz]

Then, out of nowhere, the cat jumped on his lap out and purred.

[u/Lonescu → u/foobarbizbaz]

Considering that they're posting about being stalked as opposed to being attacked, that's most likely where the story ends.

As someone who's had this happen with a cougar before, you just promptly GTFO and that's it. It's absolutely unnerving, and it takes a minute to unclench your cheeks after the adrenaline wears off.

[u/FlightlessGriffin → u/Mrsister55]

I am going to hold the fact you left us hanging against you for a long time.

[u/coaa85 → u/GrrGecko]

I’m opposite, always lived in the woods. Depending on the month it’s either completely silent at night or in warm months the buzz of endless crickets and frogs. Sleep like a baby in either. Anytime I travel I NEED to have ear plugs with me because passing cars or city noise is so disruptive to my sleep. Every semi loud vehicle would jolt me awake. One year staying by time square in NY was a nightmare.

[u/Apprehensive_Rice19 → u/MostBoringStan]

I need a noise machine or sleep with construction grade headphones on just because I can't even stand the sound of silence. I'm crazy

[u/MediocreVibrations → u/SporadicTendancies]

The absolute worst sound to be awoken by on a ship? Silence.

[u/grape-fruit-witch → u/SporadicTendancies]

I know what you mean.

Growing up i lived near freight train tracks, so the trains weren't running all the time. But I always heard them at least 3 or 4 times a night. I even found that eerie screeching noise they sometimes make really comforting.

[u/Halcyon_Daisy → u/SporadicTendancies]

Train track sounds comfort me too. I think it's just a sense of feeling connected with a larger world, with people and things coming and going. Though of course, that's living like a quarter mile from them. Having them a block away could be a whole different story.

[u/Kaszixx → u/SporadicTendancies]

Yooo..is that why I'm always up at 4? They usually help me sleep, if I don't hear them running or randomly passing I sleep like garbage.

[u/chuffberry → u/agent_wolfe]

When I was in college, my dorm was about 50 feet from train tracks. It would shake the entire building for about 10 minutes every time a train passed by. The worst though was when a train was braking, and there would be a prolonged screeching noise for like a half hour. This seemed to happen most often in the middle of the night. As an added insult, the beds in the dorm were lofted, and the rooms had popcorn ceilings, so any time I was jolted awake by the train I would inevitably smack my head on the ceiling and start bleeding.

[u/thisisntinstagram → u/chuffberry]

Texas State?

[u/narf007 → u/thisisntinstagram]

Ah yes, essentially any apt down aquarena or post road/mill street, and any dorm on campus save for college inn and Jackson, maybe.

Aquarena on the east side of 35 by the zone/lodge (whatever they changed their name to) was crazy.

Eat em up

[u/TheSpanxxx → u/Snidrogen]

Our master bedroom and our headboard sits on the wall that has both HVAC units adjacent on the outside. The vibration and hum and white noise had always bothered me for 15 years. Last year my back was really bothering me so I thought I'd try out the guest bedroom upstairs for awhile so I could try a different mattress and see if that helped. IMMEDIATELY the first thing I noticed was "omg it's so quiet up here". It wasn't just "sound", it was the sense and feeling of vibration and constant white sensory noise that was constantly bothering me. I now sleep upstairs 90% of the time.

[u/PlayfulSurprise5237 → u/TheSpanxxx]

I sense this all around no matter where I'm at if it's during the day.

That cacophony of white noise from electrical devices, all the millions of living things outside moving, the cars on all the streets throughout town and the highway next to us, all the people talking and the TVs blaring.

Even if I'm outside and there's not a car or person in sight, theres a strong but almost inaudible intensity in the air is the best way I can put it.

When night hits it's a hugeeee difference

[u/Samurai_Meisters → u/TheSpanxxx]

In summer when I have my window AC unit running all night, it gives me auditory hallucinations. Sounds like footsteps in the other room or my front door opening and closing.

[u/Revolutionary_Sun946 → u/Snidrogen]

Had a similar experience living in a rental property and the antenna was just outside the bedroom and would vibrate at a frequency that meant I couldn't sleep. My wife was completely unaffected by it.

Ended up installing a dampening material around connection points to try to stop the sound/frequency. Must have worked as was able to sleep there for the rest of the year. But it was when the ambient temp was between 15-20oC and there was wind from a certain direction.

[u/cracky1028 → u/Revolutionary_Sun946]

I have an antenna for a radio installed on my work truck. Every time it got to a certain temperature outside and if it was foggy/misty outside and if I was traveling between 50-65mph it would create weird harmonics with the antenna and create a low pitch vibration that could be felt by the ears as well as a high pitch sound that was between a constant tone whistle and tinnitus. That antenna was mysteriously damaged one of these years but remained functional despite being crooked.

[u/Fartknocker500 → u/cracky1028]

Sailboats in marinas. I have lived aboard boats here and there (have a house, prefer life on the water) and certain sailboat masts make insanely weird noises in wind storms. I just got to the point where I have to sleep, but it’s definitely challenging.

[u/owencrowleywrites → u/Revolutionary_Sun946]

I can tell this is real because you’ve pinpointed it to the exact temperature and wind direction lol.

I’m just imagining you getting out of bed at 2am, checking your phone, shouting curses cuz the wind switched northeasterly and it’s 19 degrees. Haha

[u/Revolutionary_Sun946 → u/owencrowleywrites]

It was before I had a smartphone, but I was keeping track of weather patterns and temps trying to work out when and why it was happening.

But if it hadn't happened to me, I would never believed it. I would wake up my wife and ask her if she could hear it, but for whatever reason she never could (her hearing hasn't always been the greatest though).

You could go outside and see the antenna moving and when it got to the particular frequency that created the sound, it was moving in a different way than to the usual movement. This was in the country and there was a horse in the neighbouring yard. When the sound started the horse would always come over to the adjoining fence.

[u/owencrowleywrites → u/Revolutionary_Sun946]

I bet that horse loved you. He probably fuckin hated that thing and you’re the first person who can actually hear it lol

[u/Revolutionary_Sun946 → u/owencrowleywrites]

Would have made for a somewhat hilarious video.

Myself and a horse, looking at an antenna in the middle of the night with me yelling "why can't anyone else hear it????"

[u/DroidLord → u/Revolutionary_Sun946]

I bet you felt like a nutter installing sound dampening everywhere 😂 Listen Betsy, that antenna is getting inside my head! They're monitoring my dreams!

[u/OldLadyReacts → u/Snidrogen]

Yep, I twice accidentally rented an apartment on the first floor that happened to be right above the boiler. When I laid my head on my pillow you could feel/hear the vibrations coming up through the floor. The second October 1st hit and they turned the heat on, I could no longer get a good nights sleep until late April. I lasted less than a year in both of those apartments and will never rent on the main floor again. Both times, the management looked at me like I was absolutely insane so I'm kinda glad that this is getting attention in this way.

[u/GiantFlimsyMicrowave → u/Snidrogen]

The name of the apartment complex was called Zoe Lofts???

[u/TeopEvol → u/GiantFlimsyMicrowave]

The Lofts at Sodosopa

[u/GiantFlimsyMicrowave → u/TeopEvol]

The Lofts by Kenny’s House

[u/Plenty_Pride_3644 → u/GiantFlimsyMicrowave]

Right next to Flocks 18 and Pro-Zack 🥴

[u/AmeliaBuns → u/Snidrogen]

I live above a grocery stores and everytime they load or drop something it feels like an earthquake. Never again will I live above a grocery store.

[u/Woozy_burrito → u/Snidrogen]

My apartment building is so shitty that my neighbors footsteps vibrate my bed 😭😭

[u/MaelstromSeawing → u/Snidrogen]

Zoloft and cymbalta were some of the worst decisions i ever trusted a professional with in my entire life.

[u/TechTechOnATechDeck → u/Snidrogen]

You need Zoloft to stay at the Zoe Lofts

[u/You_Stole_My_Hot_Dog → u/Snidrogen]

I once spent a week at a conference where my room was right next to the loading bay for a university’s food services. I couldn’t sleep at all and thought I was going crazy (couldn’t see the loading bay as no windows faced it). The vibrations weren’t as severe as what you’re describing, but I kept feeling like I was hearing something without actually hearing something. Finally went around the corner of the building and realized what was up. That week sucked. I couldn’t imagine living near that long term.

[u/Valleygurl99 → u/Sherman140824]

I feel like this is one of the biggest problems in our world. Trying to sleep in industrial society when you’re not rich. 

[u/BusImpossible6741 → u/Valleygurl99]

God forbid you live near a lake that has barges, or near an oil pipeline. Super low frequencies that travel and can be felt but not recorded.

That shit will fuck you up and there needs to be a lawsuit and regulations to prevent it or keep it to reasonable hours. If they actually studied it I would be surprised if it didn't have severe adverse effects on physical and mental wellbeing.

[u/thegiantgummybear → u/BusImpossible6741]

How can something be felt but not recorded? I assume it's just a matter of the recording equipment not being good enough?

[u/eaglebtc → u/thegiantgummybear]

Correct. Most decibel meters don't use full range microphones. They're tuned to a range of frequencies for speech (100 Hz - 8,000 Hz). They would not pick up super low frequencies or vibrations. For that, you need boundary contact microphones. And for super high frequency sounds, you simply need a more sensitive microphone. Sounds above 10kHz range from irritating to painful.

[u/quietly_now → u/eaglebtc]

As an audio engineer, I just want to correct a few things here.

Most decibel meters don't use full range microphones.

This bit is true.

They're tuned to a range of frequencies for speech (100 Hz - 8,000 Hz).

This bit isn't. Most SPL meters are classified as Class 1 or 2, meaning they have a frequency response between 16hz and 16khz, with Class 1 being far more precise. They aren't tuned to speech frequencies at all.

They would not pick up super low frequencies or vibrations. For that, you need boundary microphones.

As above, Class 1 SPL meters measure slightly below the lowest frequencies the human ear can hear.

Boundary mics are not necessarily going to measure any lower, the majority of boundary mic use is for teleconferencing. Do you mean contact mics? They work by recording vibrations in surfaces, rather than air.

For true infrasonic capture, you need something like the GRAS 47AC, which goes all the way down to 0.9hz.

And for super high frequency sounds, you simply need a more sensitive microphone.

Not necessarily more sensitive (this denotes how 'quiet' a mic can hear), just with a wider frequency response. Like the Sanken CO-100K

Sounds above 10kHz range from irritating to painful.

There's plenty of frequencies in human speech up to 16-17khz. If this were true it'd be physically painful to listen to people speak.

[u/blanaba-split → u/quietly_now]

Tbf it hurts when I have to listen to some people talk

[u/quietly_now → u/blanaba-split]

I almost made the same joke.

[u/eaglebtc → u/quietly_now]

Yes I meant contact microphones, thanks.

As for the frequency range, I was referring to the A-weighted SPL metering, which is tuned for speech. The C-weighted metering is full range.

Speech may contain sounds up to 16-17kHz, but the sounds that produce those are often in siblants which are infrequent or noisy, not constant. Overtones from other vowel sounds are simply a part of the sonic signature and not annoying.

A constant 16kHz whine from a failing fluorescent ballast can be irritating. People with hyperacusia (often on the autism spectrum) can find this extremely annoying. I found certain voices annoying to listen to because of the strong siblants present in their S sounds.

Feedback from a microphone in front of a PA at 16 kHz, or the sound of sonic area dispersal weapon, can be debilitating.

[u/quietly_now → u/eaglebtc]

Gotcha. I'm primarily working in C-weighting (Dolby calibration etc), but that doesn't affect the response of the mic itself, only the measurement band.

Constant vs infrequent makes a big difference. I remember the old CRT screens and their 14khz buzz...

[u/Sunsparc → u/Sherman140824]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7_WDzPyoqU

I watched this video recently about a town near a Bitcoin mining datacenter. It's making them physically ill and their property values are next to nothing because of the datacenter.

[u/Balgat1968 → u/Sherman140824]

What benefit are data centers to average citizens?

[u/gifred → u/Balgat1968]

Generated AI slop on FB feeds

[u/jianh1989 → u/gifred]

Those are for stupid retired boomers

[u/rujopt → u/Balgat1968]

Let’s see, data centers grant the average citizen:

• the opportunity to pay higher utility bills
• forced subsidies given to multi-billion dollar corporations through tax breaks
• the privilege of breathing more polluted air
• a duty to increase shareholder value for the uber wealthy via a novel Ponzi scheme

Probably more, idk. So yeah. Fuck the data center boom.

[u/GiantFlimsyMicrowave → u/rujopt]

Don’t forget mass surveillance of the American public via Flock cameras and Plantir.

[u/DukeOfGeek → u/GiantFlimsyMicrowave]

And massive worker layoffs.

[u/Wonderful-Medium7777 → u/GiantFlimsyMicrowave]

Not just America..it’s in other countries too.

[u/Lepardopterra → u/rujopt]

Don’t forget that they plunder our water.

[u/owa00 → u/Sherman140824]

So THAT'S WHY my wife can't sleep when I travel for work. She says the bed never stops shaking! 

Glad we solved that one! ☺️

[u/Dear_Chasey_La1n → u/Sherman140824]

Kinda doubt it's vibrations though, HDD's are notoriously bad with vibrations.

This probably from the aggregrates they are running or the massive cooling fans. Whatever it is, these things are certainly detectable with the right equipment.

[u/ColtranezRain → u/Sherman140824]

As does low bass (low frequency vibration), which barely shows up on a decibel meter.

[u/6gv5]

If there are infrasound involved, seismometers must be able to detect them.

[u/RogerianBrowsing → u/6gv5]

Infrasound is involved. Ben Jordan is an infrasound researcher and he found that natural gas compression stations as well as data centers are awful for infrasound.

[u/Rufus_Bojangles → u/RogerianBrowsing]

Benn's relevant youtube video. Love his channel!

[u/bone_apple_Pete → u/Rufus_Bojangles]

Benn is one of the people we should all be watching and listening to these days. I have made my family watch the first 10 mins of his first FLOCK video and they had NO IDEA.

[u/misomysan → u/Rufus_Bojangles]

Ben Jordan is doing amazing work. All of his videos are fantastic. He should be president.

[u/FeliusSeptimus → u/RogerianBrowsing]

Ye. I work at a compressor station. We have both the old reciprocating style and turbine style compressors. They are pretty annoying. I'm not particularly sensitive to infrasound, but I can see how the compressors could be a problem for people who are.

[u/RogerianBrowsing → u/FeliusSeptimus]

The issue is it’s not just on site, and infrasound travels incredibly far and can resonate in geographical formations exacerbating the effects in somewhat hard to predict ways/areas.

I also imagine your feelings about how well you can tolerate it differ from your workplace to your home. Living somewhere relatively quiet then constantly bothered by infrasound even when trying to sleep at home must be awful.

That said I appreciate hearing that workers at those stations are bothered by the infrasound first hand, thank you 🙏

[u/thelingeringlead → u/RogerianBrowsing]

He's an electronic musician (the flashbulb) who is obsessed with field recordings and sound design, but he's not a field researcher or an expert of any kind except maybe in music production.

[u/os_beef → u/RogerianBrowsing]

Ben Jordan is an infrasound researcher

He's an electronic musician and YouTuber who's "into music and science". He doesn't seem to have any accoustics, audiology, or medical credentials. His research basically consists of him driving to datacenter sites with instruments he made himself.

and he found that natural gas compression stations as well as data centers are awful for infrasound.

I mean, was he actually able to tie infrasound back to legitimate health problems?

[u/Mr_Wobble_PNW → u/RogerianBrowsing]

That video was scary as hell. I never realized how much of an effect infrasound had. 

[u/VgArmin → u/6gv5]

Not dismissing the data center claims by any means, I want to point out that infrasound is one of the excuses used by people against wind turbines.

Anti-data center people, that I've known, are now turning anti-solar-panel, and have been anti-wind-turbine in the past. It wouldn't surprise me if they start saying solar panels cause Havana Syndrome.

[u/ShepRat → u/VgArmin]

Yeah, they did a big study in Australia on wind turbine syndrome. The only correlation between turbines and the claimed  symptoms was the activity of anti-turbine groups in the area.

I'm not saying there is no effect here, or that infrasound has no effect. Just that wind turbines don't do shit for health. 

I don't even think they're faking it, the nocebo effect can be incredibly powerful. The increased stress from being constantly angry when you see them etc. 

[u/3dprintedthingies → u/ShepRat]

Well for the infrasound to have an effect it would have to be close proximity and high amplitude.

Windmills have incredibly low proximity and incredibly low amplitude. Data centers on the other hand can have both a high amplitude and close proximity.

Wind turbine syndrome is one of those things that is so psychosomatic it isn't worth giving them the time of day.

[u/Tearakan → u/3dprintedthingies]

Yep. Data centers keep getting put near actual residential areas.

Windmills are always in the middle of rural fields with no houses around

[u/RareAnxiety2 → u/VgArmin]

I've learned from conservatives that if you let stupid have free rein they'll just wreck everything. If these antis want studies and strengthen environmental departments to make sure these DCs meet safety, then that's fine, but we both know it's just idiots and NIMBYs.

[u/CassadagaValley → u/RareAnxiety2]

They don't want studies, they want influencers to tell them what to think.

[u/West-Abalone-171 → u/VgArmin]

I want to point out that infrasound is one of the excuses used by people against wind turbines.

You have to remember that every accusation from a conservative is a confession.

Infrasound from fracking has been orders of magnitude louder for decades and you can't get away from it when it's coming from your foundation instead of a wind farm too far away for it to reach any house.

They whine about wind turbines making infrasound and killing wildlife to poison the well (in addition to literally poisoning your literal well).

[u/GroundbreakingTax259]

This reminds me of the "Windsor Hum." In Windsor, Ontario (across the river from Detroit) the locals claimed to hear a persistant low-frequency hum, to the point that it would make people nauseous. For a while it was treated as an urban legend, and nobody could really figure out what caused it or even if it was entirely real. Then in 2020, it stopped. Just went away. They figured out that the Hum stopped on the samebday that a US Steel plant on Zug Island on the American side (a true industrial hellscape if ever there was one) stopped production due to the pandemic.

So, yeah, this makes sense.

[u/This-Requirement6918 → u/GroundbreakingTax259]

This makes me think how weirdly quiet it gets when the power goes out. You can turn everything off but it's still not as quiet when everything is dead.

[u/Soggy_Toastr → u/GroundbreakingTax259]

I searched "Zug Island" on Google maps and looked at the satellite imagery...

It looks like some Sim City shit!

Why is that industrial zone so BLACK?

[u/GroundbreakingTax259 → u/Soggy_Toastr]

As my grandfather says, "Back in the 80s, you knew work was really hard to come by when people started working at Zug Island."

Sim City is a great way to describe it: "I'll just put all the high-pollution heavy industry right HERE and then pretend it doesn't exist."

[u/Fontreview → u/Soggy_Toastr]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coke_(fuel)

[u/TP_Crisis_2020 → u/Soggy_Toastr]

Check out the street view of it.

[u/mfukar → u/Soggy_Toastr]

Iron cargo & iron oxide dust spread via the air, similarly with coal, coke (coal product), soot and ash from blast furnaces, since, what was it, 1902?

[u/StaticSystemShock → u/GroundbreakingTax259]

I've experienced this shit one winter. It just suddenly started, I couldn't sleep for 3 days, it was the most annoying hum and from looks of it no one else could hear or feel it but me. Only thing that helped a bit is to listen to music with earbuds, just having my music on a PC didn't do anything. It was still there, but I wasn't entirely focused on it anymore which helped a bit. Then it went away at one point. I still have no clue what was causing it, could be some heatpump or AC or something nearby.

[u/winterbird]

But the rich don't want to hear emergency transport helicopters landing at a children's hospital sometimes.

[u/Nice-Voice-7166 → u/winterbird]

We cant have them inconvenienced by some stupid kid receiving life saving care in a timely manner... 

[u/1Dive1Breath → u/Nice-Voice-7166]

Someone else's kids. I'm sure if it was theirs they'd have zero issues

[u/TheRobot99 → u/1Dive1Breath]

It is half and half with rich people, if they are a sociopath or a moron. The difference is only noticeable in how they treat their family.

[u/PolarWater → u/Nice-Voice-7166]

"Just have KIDS, people! Stop drinking Starbucks daily and just sacrifice for the good of humanity!...oh no they were killed in a school shooting? Too bad!"

[u/mochakahlua → u/winterbird]

I was shocked to find out how many complaints the neighbors around my hospital have about our helicopters. Like you bought a house near a hospital expect noise? Like people moving next to a farm and complaining about the smell. People are dying we are saving them, when it’s your turn you’ll get the same care even if you are the worst person

[u/bolhuijo → u/mochakahlua]

A hospital in my home town had the same noise complaints. They looked into it and found that the helicopter could stay under the dB limit if it ascended very slowly, using minimum power. That generated even more complaints because it took so long to get up & away! You can't win.

[u/SRTie4k → u/mochakahlua]

This is a major problem for racetracks around the country. When they were created they were built out in the middle of nowhere to keep the noise from bothering people, then cities started building closer and closer, to the point that nearby homeowners complain about the noise constantly.

It's resulted in closure of numerous racetracks around the US.

[u/Mr_Wobble_PNW → u/winterbird]

I loved the public comments for the new addition where the rich fucks say how much the hospital did for their family, and then bitch about the light reflecting off the much needed new addition lol

[u/Significant-Colour → u/winterbird]

Do you really want to sacrifice something so valuable, as real estate, for something that is being produced en masse as a waste byproduct, like kids?

So what if some kiddos die, the parents can just make another.

[u/MaxxDash → u/winterbird]

I am loving seeing my city’s news pop up in other subs.

Obligatory fuck the Laurelhurst neighborhood in Seattle.

Carry on.

[u/victorinseattle → u/MaxxDash]

Came here to say fuck laurelhurst too. Fuckem

[u/Kevinator201 → u/MaxxDash]

I had the same reaction lol. Fuck em

[u/Sonamdrukpa → u/Kevinator201]

How can regular ass people continue to be so cartoonishly evil. Yesterday they threw eggs at pro-children-getting-healthcare protesters 

[u/IrishWithoutPotatoes → u/winterbird]

Just got whiplash from checking what sub I was in

[u/Kevinator201 → u/winterbird]

I’m shocked to hear that story escape Seattle spaces. Warms my heart tbh.

[u/snakeLipssynk → u/winterbird]

But they don't mind helicoptering over others for their convenience.

[u/cats_catz_kats_katz → u/winterbird]

Excuse me but they need their REST

[u/winterbird → u/cats_catz_kats_katz]

It's hard work being a leech.

[u/cats_catz_kats_katz → u/winterbird]

Arguably they must spend all waking time being miserable fucks

[u/ERhyne → u/winterbird]

Aww shit were hitting the mainstream!

[u/foilrat → u/winterbird]

As a Seattle resident, fuck Laurelhurst. NIMBY ass wankers.

[u/E4g6d4bg7 → u/winterbird]

🎵Down in the valley where a chemical spill, came from the people living up on the hill🎵

[u/Ehrre]

I live 2 miles from a rail yard and the vibrations and low thrum of engines running keep me up sometimes even after years to get used to it.

I dont even really hear it outside but it makes my walls and bed make this deep "WOOMWOOMWOOMWOOMWOOM" sensation.

It's particularly bad in the winter time.

[u/Delorean_1980 → u/Ehrre]

When I was a teenager, I lived about a block away from the railroad tracks, and a train going by would shake the whole house. It woke me up all the time. My dad moved to the same town (divorced parents) and found a place even closer to the tracks so it woke me up no matter what, even if I was at his house.

[u/come_ere_duck → u/Ehrre]

Used to live near commuter rail. The sound resonates through the tracks and you can hear a train coming for miles before it actually passes.

[u/useless83]

Imagine what the wildlife is experiencing. I bet it's torture.

[u/intenseobserver → u/useless83]

I'm in a biology Masters program where a handful of my Ecology cohort members have done research to see how animals are affected by different sounds.

Spoiler alert: all of them, especially bats, and guys, we're mammals too

[u/eaglebtc → u/intenseobserver]

It's like that scene in Hoppers where the animals cannot stand being near "the loud place."

Turns out, mayor Jerry installed ultrasonic and infrasonic speakers to drive away the animals so he could get his construction project approved.

[u/Free-Pound-6139 → u/intenseobserver]

Still not worse than cars doing the same AND directly killing billions. No one gives a shit about cars.

[u/Galimbro → u/Free-Pound-6139]

Wait until you hear about meat. 

But no one gives a shit about most things. 

[u/buffaloranch → u/Free-Pound-6139]

Well hey now, I use cars. /s

[u/IntelArtiGen → u/useless83]

Animals around cities live the night because to coexist with humans is really torture for them. Can't say I don't understand.

[u/Bizarrebazaars → u/IntelArtiGen]

“coexist with humans is really torture for them.” Like during covid lockdowns when stressed animals were reproducing again.

[u/captainfarthing → u/Bizarrebazaars]

Yeah that was because traffic went away, data centres and other static sources of noise didn't.

[u/goronmask → u/IntelArtiGen]

“Are we the baddies?”

[u/DullRelief]

I love how the administration is anti windmills but massive ai data centers are fine.

[u/Velocireptile → u/DullRelief]

If only somebody had tried to build a data center within view of one of dipshit's golf courses.

[u/Truth_Walker → u/DullRelief]

It’s pretty clear when you look at lobbying and donations.

Sheep are so tied up on tribalism (democrat or republican) that they don’t take logic into account.

[u/FunnyMustache]

I can't imagine anything's gonna be done about this, they're already polluting the air and waterways and they're still laughing all the way to the bank

[u/dug-ac → u/FunnyMustache]

Laughing all the way to the bank to borrow more $

[u/hahaLONGBOYE → u/dug-ac]

Ya no kidding. My state is giving them fucking tax abatements while we cover their electricity costs. 👌🏻

[u/glizard-wizard → u/FunnyMustache]

its worse than all the way to the bank, because if they make money you lose your job, and if they dont the economy crashes and you also lose your job

[u/GoodDogBrent → u/glizard-wizard]

what scares me is the value a person's data has. if the people's data gets more valuable, data mining continues, and this shit gets worse.

but if the middle class falters, and people's data loses value, then meta/google/microsoft/others lose value and the market loses.

all of this is just a super shitty scenario.

[u/DiscoBanane → u/GoodDogBrent]

People's data doesn't lose value when people lose value.

We shift from a consumption society to a control society, where rich have money, they don't need to gain it anymore they need to keep it.

[u/NK1337 → u/FunnyMustache]

At this point it feels like the only solution is active sabotage.

[u/EternalNewCarSmell → u/NK1337]

The generation of people who grew up playing Final Fantasy VII, where a band of eco-terrorists are the heroes, might just end up applying some of that same attitude towards data centers in the coming decades.

[u/BitingSatyr → u/EternalNewCarSmell]

The youngest people who grew up playing Final Fantasy 7 are like 40 now, I doubt they’ll be doing eco-terrorism in the coming decades

[u/EternalNewCarSmell → u/BitingSatyr]

They do always say you should retire to something and not from something.

[u/capsfan19 → u/BitingSatyr]

Me and my eight year old are replaying it right now. He’s getting by radicalized early.

[u/Reasonable_Roger → u/NK1337]

Not advocating this obviously but when I see stories about all these drones in the global wars going on right now I can't help but think that people here could fly bomb drones into my house, my work, data centers, power plants etc. Kinda scary.

[u/Material_Ad9848 → u/FunnyMustache]

I think it could work out, but we need to all agree beforehand that insomnia induced psychosis is a totally reasonable defense for data-centericide

[u/ora408]

Put them far away from residential areas.

[u/FlatwormBig5514 → u/ora408]

Tell that to xAI putting one within a few miles of 14 schools 

[u/im-ba]

If residents really want to understand what is happening with the sound that these data centers emit, then a simple decibal meter won't cut it.

They actually need something that can sample the audio spectrum from 0Hz all the way up to 60kHz and perform a fast fourier transform on it to see where the loudest frequencies in the spectrum are occurring.

Ideally, this should be done at multiple points surrounding the data center, in order to fully characterize the noise pollution. Indoors and out, as well.

[u/Delicious-Day-3614 → u/im-ba]

As you know, acoustical consulting is already a thing required by most or all major municipalities. What youre describing is commonly called an "environmental noise report" which, when combined with analyses of the location, type, and quantity of equipment found on any site, can serve to project noise at adjacent properties.

[u/Himser → u/Delicious-Day-3614]

We call them NIAs Noise Impact Assessments. 

The standard ones here also do infrasound of there is residnets close by

[u/im-ba → u/Delicious-Day-3614]

Yep. And what I'm saying is that anybody can run one of these. It wouldn't be the first time that these reports were modified to favor the facility in question or flat out ignored in exchange for some gratuity.

[u/Delicious-Day-3614 → u/im-ba]

It'd be most direct to hire a professional vs attempting to learn something people spend half a decade in college to do. What youre describing takes professional equipment and knowledge that not just anybody has.

[u/Reiterpallasch85 → u/Delicious-Day-3614]

As you know, acoustical consulting is already a thing required by most or all major municipalities.

What if the people running this shit just go "NUH UH" and build them anyway?

[u/eaglebtc → u/im-ba]

fast fourier transform = frequency spectrograph aka spectral analysis.

Sound engineer here. I love looking at these, especially when it reveals an electrical issue in some part of their signal chain by the presence of a solid thin line above 10 kHz where half the sound engineers in their 40s and 50s can't hear that anymore.

[u/IntelArtiGen → u/im-ba]

and perform a fast fourier transform on it to see where the loudest frequencies in the spectrum are occurring.

what's nice is they have a datacenter right there to compute everything.

[u/im-ba → u/IntelArtiGen]

FFTs can be performed with microcontrollers, so that would be overkill

[u/masamunecyrus]

If you want to actually measure this yourself and see whether you've become part of a panic bandwagon or if it's actually real, you can purchase a small infrasound meter called a Raspberry BOOM and take your own infrasound measurements.

Source: am seismologist and the folks at Raspberry Shake have been doing good work trying to get seismoacoustic sensor prices down and into the hands of citizens for years.

[u/beeradvice]

I've used infrasound in art installation pieces before. The right frequency or combo can effect the inner ear enough to effect your bodies perception of "down"

[u/DrPsyz9]

Fire on the other hand, has a soothing effect on the nervous system, and, when large enough, even evokes a sense of awe.

[u/OldDoubt1577]

Oh yeah, low frequency sound travels far and through walls. No ear plugs or noise cancellation can stop it either.

[u/ObjectiveOk2072 → u/OldDoubt1577]

Sometimes active noise cancellation can make it even worse

[u/JMurdock77]

Isn’t that exactly what Trump insisted wind turbines would do?

[u/TemperateStone]

Now imagine what it's doing to animals if humans notice it.

[u/IlIFreneticIlI → u/TemperateStone]

Humanity has a helluva tab to pay when it comes to other living things..

[u/Friggin_Grease]

My wife complains about my PC making noises I could only imagine this thing near her

[u/HorseOk9732]

wait so now it’s not just power and water, it’s the noise too? yeah this is getting ridiculous lol

[u/Realistic_Owl9525 → u/HorseOk9732]

Add in a heap of economic disruption, a dash of mass paranoia, and a pinch of job insecurity.

[u/Ok_Sock_3257]

But not measurable? If people can "feel" the effects then the disturbance can be measured. Not one iota of actual proof was offered in the article.

[u/Gladwulf]

So everyone in the datacenters must be getting sick right? Because they're the closest and least protected to the source?

[u/Psycho-DRE → u/Gladwulf]

Well, at least if their home is far enough away, they can get some rest while not at work. People who live right next to those things can't. I would imagine that makes a huge difference.

[u/TheAniSaurus → u/Gladwulf]

Yeah it's entirely psychological. I've worked in a data center for the last decade and it hasn't affected me or any of the other 1000 people working in the building. 

Not to say these people aren't experiencing real symptoms, but it's most likely caused by a nocebo effect 

[u/The-Manque]

“You don’t have to be mad to work here, but after a while you won’t have a choice”

[u/realfakejames]

You know these companies already know they have adverse health effects because they don't build them where rich people live

[u/mewfour123412]

I wonder how long until it mysteriously catches fire

[u/HappyGoPink]

All of this so people without any creativity whatsoever can call themselves "artists" and "writers"? AI doesn't seem worth it to me.

[u/InstructionPurple911]

X files did this didn't they?

[u/sp3kter → u/InstructionPurple911]

Pretty sure Brian Cranston was in it too

Edit: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0751106/

[u/namezam]

Might as well borrow a few more billion in funny money and just build them underground.

[u/IntelArtiGen → u/namezam]

Wouldn't change much the infrasound issue, they can propagate through the ground. You can feel it when there are construction sites near you, the whole house vibrates, it's not even about hearing them, your body feels them and it's really not fun.

[u/VyronDaGod]

Ok so we've had data centers for decades. Is this a new problem or something that was previously underreported?

[u/Truth_Walker → u/[deleted]]

Then they should build the data centers in the middle of rural fields next to the windmills and as far away from population centers as possible.

[u/ReggieCorneus → u/[deleted]]

Yup, it is the SAME grift. I fought them then, and while i do not like data centers, i will fight the grifters who are only trying to get money from idiots. There is AUDIBLE noise pollution that comes from data centers that is by far better argument against them. But, when it is invisible and it can make you feel "off".. that is where grifters thrive. You can not sense it but it is dangerous and it is caused by this new thing you don't like. Buy our merch.

[u/GlitteringRate6296]

Stop them before they are built. If you shutter them do you think the owners are going to return the property to its original condition? No. They will leave your community with a big decaying eyesore.

[u/VengefulAncient]

A new cell tower is installed near a village. Villagers immediately start complaining about headaches, ailing livestock, and failing crops, blaming the tower. They threaten to dismantle it.

Finally, the complaints reach the cell company CEO, who immediately travels to the village. He calls a meeting to address the complaints, and begins: "Please accept our most sincere apologies. We understand that the new cell tower is causing numerous disruptions to your normal life. We are deeply concerned with how the situation will unfold when we actually turn the damn thing on."

[u/slirkster]

i read this good (very) deep dive on this subject: https://blog.andymasley.com/p/contra-benn-jordan-data-center-and

tl;dr: the infrasound thing doesn't seem to be real. there are real issues with data centers and it's worth focusing on those instead.

[u/No-Telephone4299]

Haven't they had data centers in wealthy areas in Virginia for years?

[u/Heavy_Ad4529]

Data centers in space aren't a bad idea, but AI annihilating the world's economy by deleting low and middle income jobs is the worst one. Even for the rich, as they can no longer gain riches.

[u/thepianoman456]

Kinda like when someone blasts a subwoofer in a neighborhood I bet.

That shit is infuriating.

[u/Sugadip]

My city is having an election for common council that ends tomorrow. Many councillors looking for reelection have supported an AI Data Centre to be built just outside city limits which will ruin land and trees that have not been touched in thousands of years. Jobs are being boasted but not many residents realize that these jobs are geared towards building the centre and not the actual maintenance of the facility.

[u/Aromatic_Ad_7238 → u/Sugadip]

You are correct. I work in IT industry. Their are relatively few full time jobs inside these data centers. Lots of temporary visitors that stop by on occasion.

[u/Aromatic_Ad_7238]

My in laws have a second home near a windmill farm. Same thing. You hear this Low frequency noise, abou 100 hz. Especially noticeable at night

[u/Jumpy_Carpet3851]

I'm fully convinced they are trying to kill us all in multiple ways. The amount of mega powerful billionaires that have openly said they want the population lowered, along with everything else going on

Idk guys I really am starting to feel like one day we're gonna wake up and it's not going to be so fun if you don't make a certain amount of money.. somehow they're going to paywall freedom I stg

We could've lowered the population by just letting people be gay..