Quick answer: A September 2026 survey from Quiet Communities and Science for Georgia found that 83% of respondents living near data centers or cryptomining facilities could hear the noise inside their homes, and 65% of those who could hear it said it interfered with their ability to sleep undisturbed. It is a small, self-selected survey rather than a clinical study, so it cannot tell us how common the problem is. What it does show is that the complaints behind this year’s lawsuits are echoed by residents in several states.
What the survey found
Quiet Communities and Science for Georgia released the survey on September 14, 2026. According to their press release, it reached 103 respondents in 11 states between March 18 and late April 2026, with approval from the University of Georgia Institutional Review Board, and more than half of respondents lived within half a mile of a facility. The reported results (percentages in the second to fourth bullets apply only to the respondents who could hear the noise indoors, not to all 103):
- 83% heard data center or cryptomining noise inside their homes
- 71% of those who could hear it indoors said it interfered with their ability to rest or relax
- 65% of those who could hear it indoors said it interfered with their ability to sleep undisturbed
- 54% of those who could hear it indoors said it interfered with their ability to concentrate
- 67% had considered moving because of the noise
Source: Quiet Communities and Science for Georgia press release (GlobeNewswire, September 14, 2026). We worked from the press release; the full report was not linked in it.
What the survey cannot tell you
The sample is 103 people, and people who are bothered by a facility are more likely to answer a survey about it. That means the percentages describe this group of respondents, not everyone who lives near a data center. There was no comparison group, and sleep disruption was self-reported rather than measured. A survey like this is useful for spotting a pattern worth studying, and that is how it should be read.
What the wider evidence says
The survey lands in a gap that researchers and regulators are still working on. The World Health Organization’s 2018 environmental noise guidelines give night-time recommendations for road traffic (below 45 dB Lnight), railways (below 44 dB) and aircraft (below 40 dB), and the WHO Europe noise fact sheet recommends keeping annual average night noise outside bedrooms under 40 dB(A) to prevent adverse health effects. Data centers and industrial low-frequency noise are not covered by those source-specific recommendations.
Our earlier explainer covers why low-frequency noise can be missed by standard decibel measurements, what the research on infrasound suggests, and the wave of 2026 lawsuits: Can Living Near a Data Center Affect Your Sleep? Heat is a second issue for neighbors, covered in How Data Centers Heat Up Your Neighborhood (and Sleep).
The same complaints in the news
The survey’s findings sit alongside local reporting from several states. Sleep is not always the headline in these stories, but constant noise near homes is.
- Memphis, Tennessee. On September 17, WPLN reporter Caroline Eggers reported that residents near xAI’s data center filed a lawsuit over noise from about 60 gas turbines running around the clock. One resident, Jason Haley, said he has lost sleep and has ringing in his ears that he worries could be tinnitus. He said xAI has promised quieter permanent turbines within a year but he is skeptical.
- Dowagiac, Michigan. A class action filed in May 2026 in federal court against Alliance Cloud Services alleges private nuisance from a data center. Spectrum News reported residents documenting constant noise of 50 to 62 decibels on a sound meter, and one saying “we can’t open our windows.” The Detroit Metro Times reported residents describing sleep disruption. In early September, WNDU reported that the facility’s operator, Hyperscale, had stopped bitcoin mining to expand AI capacity, and that residents remain skeptical about buyout offers.
- Aurora, Illinois. After CyrusOne’s data center opened in April 2025, residents complained of persistent noise. The city adopted property-line limits of 56 decibels in the daytime and 46 decibels from 7 p.m., according to NPR Illinois. The Chicago Tribune has also reported residents saying sound walls and generator enclosures made “no discernible difference.”
- Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. Three Sturtevant residents sued Microsoft on July 2, 2026 over its “Fairwater” data center, alleging a “tonal humming sound” and “low-frequency infrasound” from diesel generators and cooling equipment. Wisconsin Public Radio reported Microsoft made some adjustments after earlier complaints; Microsoft says the facility meets local noise ordinances.
- Vineland, New Jersey. Neighbors of a 350-megawatt DataOne/Nebius facility sued over noise they compare to “a helicopter hovering.” Govtech reported a county health inspection documented violations above 50 decibels overnight (10 p.m. to 7 a.m.), and residents describe sleep interference; one told a local outlet, “It woke me up probably around 2 o’clock in the morning.”
These are individual accounts and allegations, not findings. The lawsuits are unresolved, and the 50 to 62 decibel readings in Dowagiac come from residents’ sound meters, not a formal noise study. The Vineland, New Jersey overnight readings above 50 decibels came from a county health inspection, which is a more formal source than a resident’s own meter, but it is still one inspection, not a completed case.
What you can do tonight
None of these will fix a facility, but they can make the night more sleepable.
- Mask rather than block. A steady sound such as a fan or a white noise machine can make an irregular hum less noticeable. It will not remove vibration.
- Seal gaps first. Sealing gaps around windows, doors and vents with weatherstripping and door sweeps is a low-cost first step, though it may do little against low-frequency sound and vibration. Soft furnishings such as curtains and rugs are also unlikely to help much against low frequencies.
- Try sleep earplugs as an add-on, not a complete fix.
- Handle light separately. If facility lighting reaches your bedroom, blackout curtains address that.
- Write things down. Note dates, times and what you hear. This is useful if you raise it with the facility, your local government, or a lawyer. We are not attorneys and this is not legal advice.
- If your sleep or daytime functioning is affected for weeks, mention it to your doctor.
Common Mistakes
- Treating a survey percentage as the share of all nearby residents affected
- Assuming a normal phone decibel reading rules out a low-frequency problem
- Relying only on curtains and rugs for low-frequency noise
FAQ
Is the 65% figure representative of everyone near a data center?
No. It comes from the roughly 86 of 103 self-selected respondents who could hear the noise indoors, so it describes that group only.
Does this survey prove data centers cause sleep loss?
No. It reports what respondents said. It supports the case for measured studies, such as sleep tracking near facilities.
Are there official night-noise limits for data centers?
The WHO recommendations cited above do not cover data centers, and local noise ordinances vary widely.
Key Takeaways
A small new survey reports that most respondents near data centers and cryptomining sites hear the noise indoors and many report disrupted sleep. It is a signal, not proof of scale. Masking, sealing gaps and documenting what happens are the practical steps, and persistent sleep loss is worth raising with a doctor.
About this article
Written by the Sleep Fixes editorial team. We’re not medical professionals. We research each topic against primary sources and say plainly when a source is a press release or a small survey. This article draws on the Quiet Communities and Science for Georgia press release, WHO noise guidance, and our earlier review of the low-frequency noise research. It is not medical or legal advice.