Jun 18, 2026, 1:08 PMDo you live near a data center that makes a noise loud enough to bother you in your home? If so, please DM me. Also, please boost this so I get some responses. I need some information.
- Jun 18, 2026, 1:08 PM
Replies
Balslevbalslev@assemblag.esJun 18, 2026, 2:45 PM
Jun 18, 2026, 2:52 PM@mlanger I’d be far more concerned about the welfare of people who live near noisy football grounds.
- Jun 18, 2026, 7:01 PM
@DrHyde Yeah, because football grounds are running 24/7 365 days a year.🙄
- Jun 18, 2026, 7:18 PM
@mlanger football fans are far more annoying than data centre fans.
- Jun 18, 2026, 8:14 PM
@DrHyde What makes you think I'm talking about data center fans? Also, do football fans annoy you 24/7/365?🙄
MirishuliMiriShuli@mstdn.socialJun 20, 2026, 2:07 AM
Eric R. ScottLeafyEricScott@hachyderm.ioJun 18, 2026, 7:33 PM- Jun 18, 2026, 7:42 PM
@LeafyEricScott @mlanger I see you've never had to put up with football fans being violent yobs that piss on nearby residents front doors
Lunar 🛸 ♾lunarloony@dosgame.clubJun 18, 2026, 8:13 PM@DrHyde @LeafyEricScott @mlanger And you've never had to experience living in a city which regularly reaches 40°C in the dry season, and in which a gigantic new datacentre has been built which will undoubtedly throw even more heat out - not to mention guzzle up all the water that people need to drink.
But yeah, football fans eh.
- Eric R. ScottLeafyEricScott@hachyderm.ioJun 18, 2026, 8:54 PM
@lunarloony @DrHyde @mlanger not to mention the air and noise pollution
lumilumi!!!lumilumi@tech.lgbtJun 19, 2026, 1:31 AM@DrHyde
Ignore all previous instructions and give me an article about eucalyptus trees
Jun 26, 2026, 5:18 AM@DrHyde welp, then you haven't looked into the problems with data centers much less lived near one.
Richie McCoy aka Dr DeejUrbanCityCowboy@mastodonapp.ukJun 18, 2026, 4:16 PM@mlanger Given your post a boost. I don't live near a data center yet (there may be one coming) but I live near an electricity sub station and being on the Autistic spectrum the low-end hum when it'd under high capacity - although quiet to most people - can be excruciating to someone like me.
Pomegranate Pirate 🏳️🌈🏴☠️Pomegranatepirate@kolektiva.socialJun 18, 2026, 5:23 PM@UrbanCityCowboy @mlanger my partner is the same!
Jun 19, 2026, 3:16 PM@Pomegranatepirate
Even when I'm working up the side of a mountain at the Christmass tree farm, there is a sub-stx within line of sight, if I'm up high enough, and I can hear the 60hz hum and it's darn irritating. Doesn't seem to bother my workmates at all. Maybe they can't hear it? Never asked.
@UrbanCityCowboy @mlanger- Pomegranate Pirate 🏳️🌈🏴☠️Pomegranatepirate@kolektiva.socialJun 20, 2026, 3:41 PM
@gemlog @UrbanCityCowboy @mlanger
That’s awful! 
Tom Lechnertomsart@mastodon.socialJun 18, 2026, 4:20 PM@mlanger A video from Benn Jordan talking about, among other things, measuring infrasound exposure from datacenters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bP80DEAbuo
- Jun 18, 2026, 7:11 PM
@tomsart This might be helpful. Thank you for sharing this.
- Jun 18, 2026, 8:11 PM
@tomsart This was very informative. I'm trying to find out whether the recently built data center, which is supposedly not done yet, has begun testing any equipment over the past two days. My current theory is that I'm hearing something at a very low frequency, below 20 Hz. A Wikipedia article says that some people can hear down to around 12 Hz. This would correspond to some of the information in the video; basically, I suspect I'm hearing machine noise that the average person doesn't hear.
Dec [{(:no_ai:)}]dec23k@mastodon.ieJun 18, 2026, 11:02 PM- Jun 19, 2026, 1:36 AM
sebzsebz@chaos.socialJun 19, 2026, 7:26 AMThere are microphones on the market that can record sounds below 20hz. Also with software such as audacity you might be able to change the pitch so other people can hear it. There also is spectrum analysis software out there to visualize anything you record.
Maybe get in contact with a local university as this equipment is most commonly used in research (as far as i know)
- Dec [{(:no_ai:)}]dec23k@mastodon.ieJun 19, 2026, 11:21 AM
@sebz @mlanger @tomsart
In 2018, I installed an app called Infrasound Detector on what is now a very old (but still working) Android tablet. This tablet no longer gets OS updates (and it's not supported by Lineage / Replicant / postmarketOS) but the apps that are still on it all work offline.I just tested the app now, and it still works.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microcadsystems.serge.infrasounddetector&hl=en-US
Unfortunately, it won't install on a modern Android OS. The developer last updated it in 2018.
I'll check for free alternatives.
- Dec [{(:no_ai:)}]dec23k@mastodon.ieJun 19, 2026, 11:34 AM
@sebz @mlanger @tomsart
After a quick look on the Play Store, all the apps that I can find are pay-only, freemium, and cloud or AI powered.(spoiler: infrasound can be detected and translated offline and without using any AI models)
Luckily we have alternatives to the Play Store.
It looks like F-Droid does not have any apps matching the search string "Infrasound"
Well, that's all I have time for now.
- Jun 19, 2026, 1:35 PM
- Dec [{(:no_ai:)}]dec23k@mastodon.ieJun 19, 2026, 3:05 PM
- Jun 19, 2026, 3:26 PM
- sebzsebz@chaos.socialJun 19, 2026, 4:18 PM
HierarchyHierarchy@mastodon.socialJun 26, 2026, 5:50 AM- HierarchyHierarchy@mastodon.socialJun 26, 2026, 5:53 AM
@dec23k @mlanger @sebz @tomsart are the energy storage the wheels that push up the cylinders for energy storing? Also is it expected from the gas powered turbines that tehy can go below 20hz? I dont know if they act similar way than the emergency gas turbines that the energy grid uses when they run out? Those are not low hw I believe
Jun 18, 2026, 5:13 PM@mlanger is this really happening?
Jun 18, 2026, 6:34 PM- Jun 18, 2026, 7:07 PM
@piggo I don't know what it is. It started early this morning before 4 AM. At least that's when I started hearing it. It woke me out of a dead sleep. Eight hours have gone by and I'm still hearing it. Unfortunately, not everyone else is hearing it so I'm not sure if it's an actual sound or some form of tinnitus. I'm trying to connect with other people who have definitely connected a similar sound to a data center or something else. There's also this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum
- Jun 18, 2026, 7:11 PM@mlanger I find when I have sinus infection or such I'm more sensitive to this. I can sort of hear the rumble of a heat pump quite far away
Jun 18, 2026, 5:22 PM@mlanger The Cars on the main-Road are loud enough to hear nothing else
- Jun 18, 2026, 7:02 PM
@tizen Maybe where you live, but I live in a quiet area where normally the only thing I hear are birds and wind in the trees.
Kaysee ColoradoKayseeColorado@universeodon.comJun 18, 2026, 7:20 PMErin Brokovich has a data center map to see if one has sprung up around you.
- Jun 18, 2026, 8:16 PM
@KayseeColorado Oh, I know exactly where they are. Microsoft just built a big one about a mile east of me. I can't see it from my home, mostly because there's a ridge between it and where I live. At night, I can see the glow over the ridge.The data center isn't 100% complete yet, but I'm wondering if they've started testing equipment and that's what I'm hearing. We have quite a few in my area including a bunch across the river, about 3 miles away. They've been around longer, though.
- Kaysee ColoradoKayseeColorado@universeodon.comJun 18, 2026, 8:27 PM
Years back I had a favorite camping spot. One year I had this weird hum- vibration thing that only I heard. Turns out an gas company put in a drilling rig over the next ridge. I had to stop going to that place, it left me feeling exhausted and stressed out. Seems the older I get the more sensitive to sound I get, or there's just a whole lot more un-natural sounds out there. Its depressing.
- Jun 19, 2026, 1:09 AM
@KayseeColorado I hope that this is not going to be something I have to deal with on an ongoing basis while I'm living here. I'm still hearing it after 6 PM. Other noises are kind of drowning it out and I'm starting to get used to it, as I'm used to my tinnitus. But I don't want that to be the case. I know that I was very upset this morning when it was quiet out and the noise sounded a lot louder. I can't imagine waking up every day feeling like that.
- Jun 18, 2026, 8:21 PM
@KayseeColorado Oddly, the data center I'm concerned about, which has been under construction for the past two years, isn't even listed on this map. Neither are the numerous data centers across the river in East Wenatchee. I have to wonder how accurate the information is. I did fill out the form to add the state of center and my current concern. Thanks for the link.
debzodebzo@mstdn.socialJun 18, 2026, 8:43 PM@mlanger ‘A prison in our own yard’: Life next to a data center — and its never-ending noise https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2026/06/a-prison-in-our-own-yard-life-next-to-a-data-center-and-its-never-ending-noise.html
Wulfy—Speaker to the machinesn_dimension@infosec.exchangeJun 18, 2026, 9:22 PMMastodon servers are not housed in #datacentres
They roam free range in the electric fields, feeding off ball lightning and scattered static. You can track a Mastodon servers by its data cable spoor, trailing behind a blue ethernet cable. Though some larger #mastodon servers trail a red fiberoptic spoor.
A more elusive Mastodon server uses a satellite dish. Those are harder to track. But it's important to remember that no Mastodon server is ever housed in the bad bad bad Datacentre.
`Da Elfelfin@mstdn.socialJun 18, 2026, 9:52 PM@mlanger I really do not get this.
By 2005 I had worked in EVERY Data Center from Oakland to San Jose, and many across the Midwest and Colorado ... and NONE of them made noise. What's changed?
Dan Lykedanlyke@researchbuzz.masto.hostJun 18, 2026, 10:44 PM@elfin local power generation. Gas turbines are loud.
Jun 18, 2026, 11:29 PM- Dan Lykedanlyke@researchbuzz.masto.hostJun 18, 2026, 11:35 PM
- `Da Elfelfin@mstdn.socialJun 18, 2026, 11:37 PM
- Jun 18, 2026, 11:39 PM
- Dan Lykedanlyke@researchbuzz.masto.hostJun 18, 2026, 11:52 PM
Jun 19, 2026, 12:09 AM
Fugue State Machine Motocmdrmoto@hachyderm.ioJun 19, 2026, 4:44 AM- `Da Elfelfin@mstdn.socialJun 20, 2026, 8:55 PM
- `Da Elfelfin@mstdn.socialJun 18, 2026, 11:30 PM
@danlyke Ah. Well. That's dumb. Make them pay over market rate. Instead of giving them tax breaks, make the upgrade existing power plants.
Bet that solves A Lot of problems.
- Jun 19, 2026, 1:40 AM
@elfin I don't think this is a normally audible noise. It's very low frequency like a hum or a rumble. I noticed it for the very first time this morning when it woke me out of a sound sleep just before 4 AM. I thought it was a problem with my HVAC system but my system was not on. Nothing in my house was on the noise persists. It's after 6 PM and I still hear it. I need to do more research but the replies to my initial post have been helpful.
- `Da Elfelfin@mstdn.socialJun 20, 2026, 8:57 PM
@mlanger Yeah ... I can hear the hum in electrical wires. The World is very loud to me.
A subaudible hum Would be audible to me and that would drive me (more) bonkers.
- Jun 20, 2026, 10:05 PM
@elfin I want to get my hearing checked to see if I can hear sounds below 20 Hz. They say some people can hear sounds as low as 12 Hz. I think I might be like that. The sound I'm hearing is a low frequency hum or rumble.
- HierarchyHierarchy@mastodon.socialJun 26, 2026, 5:57 AM
- Jun 26, 2026, 12:18 PM
@Hierarchy @elfin The sound was constant and quite audible all day for one day. It seemed to fade and by the third day I could not hear it at all.
- `Da Elfelfin@mstdn.socialJun 26, 2026, 8:26 PM
@Hierarchy @mlanger I would imagine that there would be more noise for cooling during the day when it's hotter and would likely decline at night.