Researcher warns data centre noise may reach nearby homes

Noise from data centres has not been assessed closely enough in Finland, bioacoustics researcher Hanna Rosti says. In an interview with Yle, she called for updated noise standards and more detailed information about equipment noise before construction begins.

Rosti has studied environmental impact assessments for data centre projects in Finland. She says assessments often omit equipment-specific information about the noise produced when server halls start operating. The actual noise, she says, will only become clear once a facility is running.

Several data centres are planned close to homes in Finland. Rosti says problems in the United States have often emerged only after facilities began operating, when noise is difficult to address and residents can become caught in a cycle of complaints.

Antti Poikola, executive director of the data centre industry association, said many US states have no noise guidelines. “I think the concern may, to some extent, be imported. In Finland, citizens are already fairly well protected by legislation,” he said.

Poikola said Finnish data centre projects are planned to avoid causing excessive harm to residents. He acknowledged that early-stage noise assessments lack equipment-specific measurements, which would provide more detail about low-frequency noise. Such measurements are taken later in the process. The industry association plans to publish a study next summer that will also address noise.

Poikola said the situation after server halls start operating cannot be worse than the estimates in early plans. As information improves, he said, better solutions can be developed to prevent noise.

In Lahti’s Kiveriö district, Singapore-based DayOne is building a data centre close to homes, with TikTok among the operators. Residents have complained about construction noise, and protests have been held against the project.

Katerina Medkova, who lives on Ilmarisenkatu, said she fears construction disruption will be replaced by permanent noise once the data centre opens. She said construction noise left her sleeping only a few hours on some nights and eventually led her to seek medical care.

Medkova, an engineer, is especially concerned about low-frequency noise from the facility’s cooling systems. “It could continue around the clock and be difficult to block out at home. Residents’ wellbeing, health and peace at home should be secured before operations begin, not only afterwards,” she said.

Rosti’s assessment of noise studies suggests that sound levels at some properties near planned data centres in Forssa and Kouvola could increase more than tenfold when the server halls start operating. In Forssa, QTS Data Centers is planning a facility whose nearest homes are about 200 metres away. In Kouvola, the nearest residential area to TikTok’s planned data centre is less than 100 metres away, according to Rosti.