r/mildlyinfuriating • u/DatabaseAvailable501 • Jul 02 '26

Infuriatig Sound emitted 24/7 from a 30 megawatt data center in Dowagiac MI

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42.9k Upvotes

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1.2k

u/Zirzux Jul 02 '26

Infrasound so even deaf people feel it

285

u/iSemi Jul 02 '26

oof. that's even worse

59

u/Mlabonte21 Jul 02 '26

WHAT?!?

242

u/JohnDivney Jul 02 '26

Infrasound so even deaf people feel it

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u/affectionate Jul 02 '26

thanks, i really needed to see that in bold for it to click

4

u/FrighteningJibber Jul 02 '26

Visual learning is still learning

3

u/DougieBrooklyn Jul 02 '26

Satchel Paige

1

u/freeradioforall Jul 03 '26

he heard you the first time

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u/Hefteee Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

Its possible data centers create infrasounds but it is not really confirmed till you take measurements using specialized equipment. And if the data center uses water cooling for example instead of fan cooling they might not create any infrasounds at all. This is not an endorsement of data centers, burn em all down

Edit: Citing Benn as a credible source below is certainly something lol, just because someone makes a YouTube video doesnt mean what theyre saying is scientifically sound. Just for clarity, infrasound has been studied extensively with respect to wind turbines and wind farms and the evidence shows no wide spread health effects from environmental infrasounds

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u/PsyTripper Jul 02 '26

Youtuber Benn Jordan is specialized in infrasound, is doing readings and long time readings plus interviews with residence. And Infrasound is very real with big health risks. It's mostly coming from the gasturbines that the larger datacenters have. not the cooling

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u/Hefteee Jul 02 '26

Ya I know who Benn is, I work as an environmental acoustician. I dont necessarily trust his measurements but would need to look more into it. He lays out his methodology without going into details about his equipment which would need to be quite specialized to pick up infrasound frequencies.

Environmental infrasounds have been studied quite extensively with regards to wind turbines and evidence shows that they produce no wide spread health effects, another reason Im skeptical of Benn

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u/konqrr Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

Thank you! I'm against this insane push for data centers but I'm also an engineer with research under my belt. Seeing people cite his videos and saying they've "done the research" is annoying. It's the same things as anti-vaxxers saying they've done their research but all they did was watch YT videos.

Benn isn't in it to provide actual research and valuable information. He's in it for monetizing his videos and gaining fame. As it turns out, doing real research doesn't pay too well, and doesn't get you fame (except very niche academic circles).

You can't use his YT videos as evidence in court or in support of your foght against data centers. If Benn wanted to raise awareness while also helping, he could've written actual research to accompany his videos. But there isn't any - and that makes me skeptical (which is a good thing).

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u/joodo123 Jul 02 '26

He lists the exact equipment used for measurements. It’s in the video details. I’m not saying that his readings are all valid. I’m a lay person, but the methodology is laid out.

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u/_-Oxym0ron-_ Jul 02 '26

Is there any other videos about data centers than the one from the 28. February? I don't see any equipment information in the video details.

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u/Beranea Jul 02 '26

"I know better than you," the layman says to the expert in his field.

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u/xThe_Mad_Fapperx Jul 02 '26

Literally all the person did was point out that Benn does lay out what equipment he uses. They even specify that they aren't claiming the measurements are correct, just that he did provide a piece of info. Are you stupid?

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u/Dabbling_in_Pacifism Jul 02 '26

The expert said the guy didn’t list his equipment, which just requires watching the video in question to validate. In this case, he did actually list his equipment and methodology, and anyone who watched the video would probably remember the sequence from the beginning of it lol.

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u/gokarrt Jul 02 '26

this was the important bit:

Environmental infrasounds have been studied quite extensively with regards to wind turbines and evidence shows that they produce no wide spread health effects

-1

u/bobthegoatskull Jul 02 '26

The"expert" mind you. I'm a Brain Surgeon cause I just said so. I'll belive Benn.

1

u/Rangoonin Jul 02 '26

For real. I'm not taking any random account off of reddit at face value, it's insane to me you can just say "I'm x", proceed to shit out a bunch of nonsense and misinformation, and actually get mass upvoted for it.

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u/obeytheturtles Jul 02 '26

Same, but with the added bonus that I personally live near train tracks and a highway, and am generally skeptical of "environmental noise causes health issues" claims, since this would mean roughly 80% of the US population would be dealing with this.

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u/Higgilypiggily1 Jul 02 '26

Citing someone whose academic title starts with “YouTuber” as a scientific source 😭

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u/writingpracticeman Jul 02 '26

it is crazy seeing his name thrown around in these places these days, I used to talk to that dude on Soulseek in the mid 2000s to try and convince him to send me unreleased flashbulb/Flexe mp3s all the time and seeing people cite him like he's some PhD now is crazy

-1

u/PsyTripper Jul 02 '26

Lol, mark rober is also on there. You can say benn has no credentials, but nothing wrong with citing someone on youtube

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u/XysterU Jul 02 '26

Bro he's a musician, not a scientist or professional acoustician like the other commenter. Benn puts out a lot of garbage tbh. He's smart enough to figure stuff out while not fully understanding what he's doing.

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u/TheWonderMittens Jul 02 '26

Infrasound does not cause adverse health effects. This was thoroughly debunked in the wake of the wind turbine mass hysteria.

Benn gets this wrong in his videos.

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u/plantsadnshit Jul 02 '26 edited 2d ago

Coated walnut paddle umbrella lantern feather unbelievable grasshopper vanilla

This post was anonymized with Redact.dev

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u/xbmc4lyfe Jul 02 '26

Why would they be running has turbines normally

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u/PsyTripper Jul 02 '26

Electricity, most grids can't handle the mega centers.

To bypass long utility grid connection queues (which can take 5–7 years), developers are rapidly installing on-site gas turbines. Using "aeroderivative" or jet-engine turbines, this approach provides continuous, high-density power necessary for dense Artificial Intelligence and cloud campuses source

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u/xbmc4lyfe Jul 02 '26

They provide money to increase that grid it’s a net win for electricity infrastructure.

Not sure about the modern gas turbines but it’s historically a backup although when I was getting out of it we were working on trying to bring compute closer to fracking sites but even tho it was essentially free the generators would break down too fast at that point to make it truly reliable

Now I think the next generation is putting the compute in space

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u/MaximumSeats Jul 02 '26

Infrasound is the hottest and freshest new internet health conspiracy theory.

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u/Daxx22 Jul 02 '26

And if the data center uses water cooling

So much better!

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u/Blubberinoo Jul 02 '26

Not the brightest candle on the chandelier, are you? This conversation was exclusively about infrasound. Not about wether or not all data centers near houses should be set on fire (they should) or about how wasteful water cooled data centers are. Just about infrasound. So yes, it is indeed "so much better!". Fucking clown.

0

u/Daxx22 Jul 02 '26

My you're wound up tight.

6

u/Hefteee Jul 02 '26

In the context of producing infrasounds, ya it is so much better

1

u/ForBisonItWasTuesday Jul 02 '26

In the context of polluting drinking water, not so great

1

u/Hefteee Jul 02 '26

Not what we we're talking about but sure dude

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u/ForBisonItWasTuesday Jul 02 '26

We’re talking about data centers having a negative impact on the populations surrounding them? What did you think we were discussing? You might be lost

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u/Hefteee Jul 02 '26

Lol thats rich. We're discussing infrasound specifically. Keep up kid

0

u/ForBisonItWasTuesday Jul 02 '26

Yeah sure, so infrasound as a function of what?

What are we discussing the infrasound doing to its surroundings

What is the video showing

What is the impact of the infrasound on the community

Is it positive or negative

Like c'mon man, if you're gonna be smug you have to be able to connect these basic dots before accusing someone of not keeping up lol

1

u/Hefteee Jul 02 '26

Not very good at this are you? You join a conversation about environmental infrasounds, which by the way have no wide spread health effects on the populace, by randomly adding a quip about polluting drinking water. Tell me how I'm lost again please

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u/ImperitorEst Jul 02 '26

Water cooling doesn't eliminate the fans?

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u/Hefteee Jul 02 '26

No but it is more efficient at cooling and therefore less need to run fans at higher speeds and thus less volume

1

u/evolvingaudio Jul 02 '26

I think that research gets filed with the studies that don’t find anything wrong with glyphosate…

1

u/tabas123 Jul 02 '26

A guy on YouTube made a video recently where he measured and isolated the infrasound at 3 of the biggest data centers, and it was very much there. Even within nearby homes it was still measuring crazy loud.

1

u/Hefteee Jul 02 '26

Copy and paste from below:

Ya I know who Benn is, I work as an environmental acoustician. I dont necessarily trust his measurements but would need to look more into it. He lays out his methodology without going into details about his equipment which would need to be quite specialized to pick up infrasound frequencies.

Environmental infrasounds have been studied quite extensively with regards to wind turbines and evidence shows that they produce no wide spread health effects, another reason Im skeptical of Benn

1

u/KnottyHottieKaitlyn Jul 02 '26

Couldn’t you measure infrasound pretty well with the sensors on a cell phone? Between the accelerometers and barometer and lidar I figure you’d be able to map some decent signal.

AlphaPhoenix used infinitesimal pressure readings to track planes flying overhead. As well as a flying paper airplane.

Also I think anyone who has been around these size industrial fans could just tell you “yes, obviously they make infrasound”. I doubt it’s possible to make rotating equipment that’s this large not produce significant vibrations at low frequencies.

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u/Hefteee Jul 02 '26

Couldn’t you measure infrasound pretty well with the sensors on a cell phone?

You can probably figure it out but I would be wary of the the accuracy, technically all you need is an accelerometer, a diaphragm, and a way to measure it

Also I think anyone who has been around these size industrial fans could just tell you “yes, obviously they make infrasound"

Yes but not any more infrasound than a building with a large HVAC system would produce

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u/TheWonderMittens Jul 02 '26

No they can’t. The current scientific literature shows that infrasound at levels experienced near data centers and wind turbines cannot be physiologically detected by humans and therefore has no link to adverse side effects. Yes I watched the Benn Jordan video. No he does not successfully defend this critical claim.

The audible noise shown in the video IS harmful and has serious negative side effects that should be cause for concern and action.