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Not-So-Quiet: Why Data Center Noise Is Becoming a Community Issue
Data centers are often described as invisible infrastructure. They sit behind fences, windowless and anonymous, quietly powering the services that underpin modern life. Unlike power plants or factories, they rarely emit smoke or discharge waste into nearby rivers. For years, this perceived quietness helped data centers avoid the kind of scrutiny faced by other forms of industrial development. Yet for many communities living near these facilities, the idea that data centers are silent has proven misleading. As hyperscale campuses multiply across the United States, noise pollution has emerged as an under examined but increasingly consequential impact of digital infrastructure.