- AI data centers emit noise up to 96 decibels 24/7, with low-frequency "infrasound" that humans feel as pressure but cannot hear.
- Residents report dizziness, nausea, vertigo, insomnia, headaches and anxiety they attribute to data center noise pollution.
- Infrasound at high volumes can affect the central nervous system and heart function, according to McGill University researchers.
- 70% of U.S. adults oppose having a data center in their area, a March Gallup poll found.
- At least 11 states have proposed legislation since late 2025 to restrict or ban data center development.
The unseen threat: When silence becomes dangerous
Artificial intelligence data centers are generating a new form of pollution that residents cannot hear but can feel in their bodies, triggering symptoms from migraines to vomiting and raising questions about whether technology's rapid expansion has outpaced basic public health protections.
Noise emitted by data centers—the humming of cooling systems, the rumbling of diesel generators and the whirring of thousands of fans—can be heard and felt hundreds of feet away. According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), noise levels can reach 96 decibels for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Sound exceeding 85 decibels is considered dangerous to human hearing.
But the more insidious threat may be what residents cannot hear at all: infrasound.
The body's unwitting receiver
Infrasound—low-frequency sound below 20 Hertz—bypasses the ear entirely. The body feels it as pressure or vibration. Residents living as close as 50 feet from data centers report symptoms remarkably similar to electromagnetic radiation syndrome, the condition linked to cell towers and Wi-Fi networks.
Paul Héroux, associate professor of medicine at McGill University and vice chair of the International Commission on the Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields, said the overlap is no coincidence.
"Sound, electric and magnetic fields of the same frequency have some overlap in their biological effects because they are similarly disruptive energy injections," Héroux said.
Infrasound at high volumes can directly affect the human central nervous system, causing disorientation, anxiety, panic, bowel spasms, nausea and vomiting, according to Héroux. German researchers published an in-vitro study five years ago showing that after just one hour of exposure, high levels of infrasound interfered with the heart muscle's ability to contract properly, raising questions about chronic exposure effects.
The jet engines next door
Data centers are increasingly powered by natural-gas turbines—essentially jet engines bolted to floors—that run continuously rather than as backup generators. In Granbury, Texas, a Bitcoin mining center sitting less than 100 yards from a mobile home park hosts 60,000 computers and associated cooling and power systems. Dozens of residents reported vertigo, nausea, high blood pressure, migraines, fluid coming from ears and insomnia.
In Southaven, Mississippi, the roar from 27 natural gas-powered turbines at an xAI facility has disturbed nearby residents' sleep, with neighbors publicly expressing concerns about both air and noise pollution.
Backup diesel generators add another layer. Industrial-sized units can reach 105 decibels—as loud as a car horn at full tilt. While emergency generators are tested monthly and allowed up to 50 hours of operation annually, off-grid turbines never stop.
A regulatory vacuum
The U.S. has no federal noise pollution agency. The Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Noise Abatement and Control was defunded in 1981 under the Reagan administration, though the EPA retains legal authority to study noise effects. Regulation was shifted to state and local governments.
But most noise ordinances were written for block parties, not industrial facilities operating around the clock. Because data center noise spans multiple frequency ranges, particularly low frequencies, standard decibel meters often fail to capture the full impact.
W. Scott McCollough, lead attorney for Children's Health Defense's electromagnetic radiation cases, said infrasound and radiofrequency radiation share a key feature: Both involve modulation that creates energy bursts with sharp peaks and valleys, leading to resonance and amplification.
A historical precedent worth remembering
The current battles echo the early years of cell tower regulation. In the 1990s and early 2000s, communities raised health concerns about wireless infrastructure, only to face industry pushback and preemptive federal legislation that stripped local control. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibited local governments from denying tower siting based on health concerns if the facility met federal radiofrequency exposure guidelines—guidelines that critics say were never designed to protect against chronic, low-level exposure.
Miriam Eckenfels, director of Children's Health Defense's EMR & Wireless Program, sees the same pattern emerging with data centers.
"People don't want them, so they oppose them," Eckenfels said. "These decisions must be made at the local level and not in Washington D.C., where folks are far removed from the reality on the ground and the negative consequences."
The local fight ahead
Maine was poised last month to become the first state to enact a moratorium on new data centers. Gov. Janet Mills vetoed the bill, writing that while a moratorium was appropriate given environmental and electricity rate impacts, the final version failed to allow a specific project in Jay that enjoyed strong local support.
At least 11 states have proposed legislation to restrict or ban data center development since late 2025. A March Gallup poll found 7 in 10 U.S. adults oppose having a data center in their area. Only 7% strongly support them. Opposition was strongest among women: 55% said they strongly opposed data centers, compared to 43% of men.
The irony is that the AI revolution requires data centers to function, yet those centers may make the communities hosting them uninhabitable. The U.S. does not lack flat, open (farm) land away from population centers. But developers prefer to build near existing infrastructure to avoid the cost and time of starting from scratch—leaving residents to absorb the costs in health and quality of life.
Sound and silence as a public health question
The 1972 Noise Control Act and 1978 Quiet Communities Act gave the EPA tools to study and mitigate noise. Those tools were never withdrawn; they were simply left unused for 45 years. The agency still has legal authority to conduct noise-control investigations. Whether it will exercise that authority for a new generation of industrial neighbors remains unclear.
What is clear is that the body responds to sound whether the ear registers it or not. For residents from Chandler, Arizona, to Granbury, Texas, the humming never stops—and neither do the headaches, the insomnia and the vertigo they believe follow. The question is not whether science will eventually confirm the link. The question is how many communities will be sacrificed before it does.
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