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The wind energy industry has vigorously rejected new research from the US suggesting some residents living close to wind farms are susceptible to a collection of health risks dubbed “Wind Turbine Syndrome”.

Dr Nina Pierpont, a New York paediatrician, claimed this week that the noise and vibrations caused by wind turbines could impact the health of nearby residents. But the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) accused the study of being based on an “unscientific” sample and running counter to wider-ranging research that suggests wind turbines do not pose health risks.

Dr Pierpoint said there was “no doubt” that her research showed that Wind Turbine Syndrome exists and that the infrasonic to ultrasonic noise and vibrations emitted by wind turbines caused about 12 different symptoms, including abnormal heart beats, sleep disturbance, headaches, tinnitus, nausea, visual blurring, panic attacks and general irritability.

However, according to a draft copy of the section of the book intended for non-clinicians that is available on Dr Pierpont’s web site, much of the research appears to be based on interviews with just 10 families living near wind turbines ranging in size from 1.5MW to 3MW, resulting in a sample of 38 people.

A spokesman for the BWEA said that the size of the sample group and the methodology for the study “simply does not stack up scientifically”. “This is research based on the symptoms of 38 unspecified people in a small number of unspecified locations,” he argued, adding that a recent, more extensive study by acousticians at Salford University had concluded that there were no health risks arising from the noise from wind turbines.

A New York paediatrician has warned that living too close to wind turbines can cause heart disease, tinnitus, vertigo, panic attacks, migraines and sleep deprivation in groundbreaking research due to be published later this year.

Following studies of people living near wind turbines in the US, UK, Italy, Ireland and Canada for the past five years, Dr Nina Pierpoint has identified a new health risk called wind turbine syndrome (WTS).

She says the disruption of the inner ear’s vestibular system by low-frequency noise from the turbines is causing problems ranging from internal pulsation and quivering to nervousness, fear, a compulsion to flee, chest tightness and increased heart rate.

To date, wind companies have denied any health risks associated with powerful noise and vibration produced by wind turbines, backed by recent research by acousticians at Salford University, who argue that earlier claims by Dr Pierpont are “imaginary”.

Scientific orthodoxy has been overturned by the discovery that like fish, humans are affected by vibrations through their ear bones, Dr Pierpont claimed.

“It has been gospel among acousticians for years that if a person can’t hear a sound, it’s too weak for it to be detected or registered by any other part of the body. But this is no longer true,” she said.

“Humans can hear through the bones. This is amazing. It would be heretical if it hadn’t been shown in a well-conducted experiment.”