Data Centre Noise Emissions Are a Silent Killer: Where is the UK or International Regulation?
Sun 5:20 pm +00:00, 25 Oct 2026
25 October 2026 by Claire Edwards
Data centres produce noise and infrasound from cooling systems, ventilation, transformers and generators day and night, 365 days a year, with no respite for people living nearby. Chronic noise is constant stress, and that is precisely what the body has the hardest time coping with. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) environmental noise guidelines (World Health Organization, 2018) state that prolonged noise exposure is associated with elevated blood pressure and an increased risk of ischaemic heart disease and stroke.
It is therefore concerning to learn that not only do data centres routinely exceed the WHO’s A-weighted environmental noise thresholds, but they also produce sub-audible infrasound at sub-20 hertz (Hz) that is not even addressed in those guidelines. This lacuna is mirrored in UK planning policy, where data centre noise is assessed under BS 4142, an A-weighted method that does not capture energy below 20 Hz. No UK planning conditions, government guidance or regulatory limits currently address infrasound or low-frequency noise from data centres, which leaves the sub-perceptual component of their emissions entirely unregulated.
People who have the misfortune to live near data centres often describe the noise as being like “a vacuum cleaner left running outside” and consistently report:
– A constant hum or high-pitched whistling sound
– Vibrations in windows, walls, floors and the body
– A sensation of pressure
– An audible tone, even indoors
– Sleep disturbances
– Headaches or migraines, stress, irritability, and anxiety (even with earplugs or headphones)
– Exhaustion and difficulty concentrating
– Nausea, dizziness or vertigo
– Ear pressure, pain, hearing loss, vibration in the head or chest, tinnitus
They also frequently report that their home no longer feels like a place of refuge, that pets become restless or change their behaviour, and that they notice fewer birds and other changes in wildlife.
Although the audible noise from data centres can be dampened by barriers such as windows and walls, the low-frequency, inaudible infrasound that they generate cannot be blocked. Infrasound is generally below the range of human hearing. Unlike higher-frequency noise, low-frequency sound propagates through the ground up to 10 times faster than through air, travels farther, bends around obstacles and penetrates buildings that have been protected against audible noise. Buildings can amplify this vibration through resonance—the ground barely moves, but the building vibrates more strongly, and occupants feel it more distinctly than they would outside.
In medium-density soil, a 0.75-Hz wave has a wavelength of about 2,670 metres or 1.65 miles. Consequently, people living in Torrington, Devon may be badly affected by the data centre planned for a site within just one mile of their town centre. The proposed XLinks Devon data campus is planned to cover 850 acres of North Devon and includes two 40-metre-high data halls to be built on the rising slope above Torrington.
Animal, cellular and human studies implicate infrasound in oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and cardiac dysfunction at high intensities. An epidemiological study (conference poster, DGIM 2026) reported a significantly increased incidence of new-onset heart failure and life-threatening arrhythmias in two German municipalities with dense wind turbine deployment compared to neighbouring control communities.
Participants in a Canadian study (Scatterty et al. 2026) could not hear the 18-Hz infrasound, but their salivary cortisol levels rose measurably and they reported increased irritability and sadness. The authors interpret the rise in cortisol as an evolutionary “alertness response”, as if an invisible danger were nearby. In the case of infrasound from data centres, the danger is most certainly both invisible and inaudible.
Another study demonstrates that sub-perceptual infrasound may alter brain structure with prolonged exposure (Ascone et al., 2021).
Dastan et al. (2026) conclude that infrasound activates mechanosensitive ion channels, leading to intracellular calcium influx, oxidative stress, and — at higher intensities — apoptosis and mitochondrial injury in cardiac and neural tissue.
Isn’t it time to ban data centres on the grounds of their noise emissions alone? Established science shows that such emissions are a silent killer of men, women, children, animals and insects. Could infrasound vibrations also endanger trees, buildings and public infrastructure? Surely, in the case of data centres, the precautionary principle must be invoked and people and nature protected?
References
Mayer, P. F. (2026, October 17). Lärm und Infraschall von Mega-Rechenzentren — und warum Anwohner es spüren. [Noise and infrasound from mega data centers — and why residents can feel it]. TKP. https://tkp.at/2026/10/17/laerm-und-infraschall-von-mega-rechenzentren-und-warum-anwohner-es-spueren/
World Health Organization. (2018). Environmental noise guidelines for the European Region. WHO Regional Office for Europe. https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/9789289053563
A Midwestern Doctor. (2026, October 15). What is making people near data centers sick (and what could fix it). The Forgotten Side of Medicine. https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/what-is-makin
Vahl, C.-F., & Dietz, O. (2026). Deutlich erhöhte Inzidenz von Herzinsuffizienz und Rhythmusstörungen in Kommunen mit erheblichem Ausbau der Windenergie [Significantly increased incidence of heart failure and rhythm disorders in communities with substantial expansion of wind energy] (Poster P-15-07). 132nd Congress of the German Society for Internal Medicine (DGIM), Wiesbaden, Germany. The conference poster PDF is available at: https://www.hoher-odenwald.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Uni-Medizin-Mainz_-_Kongress-DGIM_April-2026-1-1-1.pdf
Scatterty, K. R., VonStein, D., Prichard, L. B., Franczak, B. C., Hamilton, T. J., & Schmaltz, R. M. (2026). Infrasound exposure is linked to aversive responding, negative appraisal, and elevated salivary cortisol in humans. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 20, 1729876. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2026.1729876
Ascone, L., Kling, C., Wieczorek, J., Koch, C., & Kühn, S. (2021). A longitudinal, randomized experimental pilot study to investigate the effects of airborne infrasound on human mental health, cognition, and brain structure. Scientific Reports, 11, Article 3190. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-82203-6
Dastan, M., Ribeiro, E. D. P., Bellut-Staeck, U., Zhou, J., & Lehmann, C. (2026). Infrasound and human health: Mechanisms, effects, and applications. Applied Sciences, 16(3), Article 1553. https://doi.org/10.3390/app16031553
Chaban, R., Ghazy, A., Georgiade, E., Stumpf, N., & Vahl, C.-F. (2021). Negative effect of high-level infrasound on human myocardial contractility: In-vitro controlled experiment. Noise & Health, 23(109), 57–66. https://doi.org/10.4103/nah.NAH_28_19
Münzel, T., Sorensen, M., Basagaña, X., Daiber, A., & Pershagen, G. (2024). Transportation noise pollution and cardiovascular health. Circulation Research, 135(12), e1–e22. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.123.323584
Pershagen, G., Pyko, A., Aasvang, G. M., Ögren, M., Tiittanen, P., Lanki, T., & Sørensen, M. (2025). Road traffic noise and incident ischemic heart disease, myocardial infarction, and stroke: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Environmental Epidemiology, 9(3), e400. https://doi.org/10.1097/EE9.0000000000000400
Minkin, M., Woodland, L., Williams, O. A., Hamilton, S., Hansell, A. L., Vienneau, D., Gong, X., & Fenech, B. (2025). Revisiting the association between transportation noise and heart disease reported in the World Health Organization Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Environment International, 202, 109667. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2025.109667
