The noise keeps people up at night. It forces them to close their windows on hot days, causes some to abandon their backyards in favor of the slightly quieter indoors and even changes their dog's behaviors. It's inconsistent, often gets louder at night, leaves neighbors on edge and, according to experts, is likely detrimental to their health and well-being.
The noise reverberating around neighborhoods of North Tonawanda comes from Digihost, a blockchain technology company that mines cryptocurrency. It's likely the noise comes from large fans running to cool down bitcoin-mining computers in the company's buildings on the Erie Avenue property. "It grates on you," said Fairmont Avenue resident Mark Polito.
"It's like fingernails on a chalkboard ...
everyone's got lawnmowers, eventually they shut off . This is constant; it's 24/7, it does not turn off ." North Tonawanda residents living around the Digihost facility said they can hear a humming noise coming from the property at nearly every hour of the day.
At times, the noise seems to get louder, rising to levels akin to a jet plane running its engines right outside their front doors, community members told The Buff alo News. "I hear it during the day before I go to work and then when I come home from work," said Sherwood Avenue resident Karen Hance. "I hear it when I'm trying to go to sleep.
I lay there and I can't sleep because of the sound." On the afternoon of June 7, the facility's humming could be heard above the patter of .
