"I'm getting vibrations, and I haven't slept in I don't know how long," Mrs. Garrow said. "But I don't think anybody's looking out for our interest." Richard Green of Churubusco said he can feel the sounds from the turbines, citing the low range and the repetitiveness. "It's a constant noise that you can feel in your body."

In rural areas like Hammond, he continued, where traffic is infrequent and the lulls he spoke of are common, its easy to hear and locate distant noise sources. Few people, few machines and little man-made noise ...He said he expects the background noise level in Hammond to be somewhere between 25 and 35 dBA, while the wind industry, he said, says its between 40 and 45 dBA.

In a May 14 letter, the two disputed the background noise levels that Mr. Hessler assumed through his regression analysis. Mr. Elliot and Mr. Tocci had measurements that averaged five decibels below the levels Mr. Hessler predicted ...If ambient noise levels have been overstated in the impact statement, it will allow higher levels of noise from turbines.

After four months of meetings, the Hammond Wind Advisory committee made its first recommendation to the Hammond Town Board: to ask for funding for an ambient noise study to be conducted throughout the proposed wind overlay district for the town.

Mr. Duff asked the panel to decide whether a proposed ordinance would measure the noise from a nearby residence or from existing property lines. Committee members sent their responses to Mr. Duff, who in turn, posted them anonymously for the meeting. Six of seven responses from the eight members in attendance said that they would prefer a relative standard based on background noise, and that they felt noise should be measured from property lines, not homes.

The author of "Wind Turbine Syndrome: a Report on a Natural Experiment" told the Hammond Wind Committee on Monday that 14 percent of the town's residential dwellings will be adversely affected if the entire wind overlay zone is filled with wind turbines.

A sound consultant under contract with Iberdrola Renewables told the Hammond Wind Committee Monday that professional studies show that several health concerns involving noise from wind turbines are not scientifically proven.

Gary A. Abraham, attorney for the Clear Skies Over Orangeville group, said he hopes the five-judge Appellate Division of State Supreme Court will hear the case by late summer. He wants the justices to grant his group's plea to order the town to re-examine the noise level generated by the project.

A sound expert told the Wind Advisory Committee that Hammond's "rural soundscape" will be changed with the construction of wind turbines and that it would be foolish to take any wind developer's sound level plan as gospel. ...Mr. Schneider described Hammond's evenings as calm, quiet times during which the noise from turbines would not be masked.

A four-hour work session Saturday was not enough for the town's wind committee to reach a consensus on noise level limits and setbacks for industrial wind turbines in the town. After a long debate over a one-page proposal by wind committee member Beth A. White, the nine members of the Town Council, Planning Board and wind committee present agreed to disagree.

Allegany residents heard from a sound expert regarding noise created by wind turbines, and witnessed a heated discussion between a town consultant and resident during Monday's special meeting for the town of Allegany Planning Board and Allegany Town Board.

The Clayton Town Council agreed to keep the sound limitations and most of the setback recommendations from the Wind Committee and forward them to the town attorney to begin writing a new zoning law for wind power development. The council, meeting Wednesday night, held voice votes on all 16 recommendations forwarded from the committee. The only point dropped by the council was a recommendation to site turbines so there would be no flicker effect falling at road intersections.

Prattsburgh town officials will meet Tuesday to consider hiring a sound expert to draft a general noise ordinance aimed at regulating wind turbines. The board's action followed an initial report by Seth Waltz, president of Avl Designs, Inc. of Pensfield, on his preliminary study of noise in Prattsburgh, the neighboring town of Naples and wind farm in Cohocton operated by First Wind.

Debate continues looming over a plan to put wind farms up in one Southern Tier town.Community members in Prattsburgh have one main concern when it comes to wind turbines going up in their neighborhood. That concern is the noise the turbines will make.

The noise you can hear may be a problem for some individuals living near wind farms, according to Rochester- based acoustician Seth Waltz. But the noise you can't hear may be more troublesome and difficult to predict, Waltz, of avi designs, inc., told the Prattsburgh town board recently. "There is no way to guarantee you won't have a problem," Waltz told board members.

Cohocton Wind Farm leaseholder Hal E. Graham told north country residents Wednesday night about the noise and other effects the 50-turbine wind farm has had on his and his neighbors' lives. Mr. Graham has one turbine on his property, 2,000 feet from his house. A neighbor has one 1,050 feet away from Mr. Graham's house. ...

Laws regulating wind farms and a presentation on noise issues highlighted the special Prattsburgh town board meeting Tuesday night, July 7. The town is the site of proposed wind farms by two energy companies, Ecogen and First Wind.

The new study was done by Paul D. Schomer of Schomer & Associates Inc., Champaign, Ill. Mr. Schomer is chairman of the International Organization for Standardization working group on environmental noise and chairman of the American National Standards committee on noise, among other leadership roles in noise measurement. The finding contradicts the studies done by Hessler Associates Inc., Haymarket, Va., for the draft environmental impact statement of BP Alternative Energy's Cape Vincent Wind Farm and supplemental draft environmental impact statement of Acciona Energy North America's St. Lawrence Wind Farm.

Under the proposed regulations, noise levels also would need to fall to 40 decibels at receptors, such as dwellings or businesses. The ministry said a turbine with a sound power level of 106 decibels would have to meet a setback of 950 meters, or about 3,100 feet, from the nearest house or business.

The big blades have been welcomed by many, including Gov. Jennifer Granholm, as they've gone up in the farm fields of Huron County in recent years. But a handful of people who live near some of the 46 turbines at a wind park in Bingham and Sheridan townships are now complaining about ongoing noise and rumble from the 300-foot-tall renewable energy generators.