The thousand-dollar line

The regulation of low-frequency hum (tonal noise) from data centers is technically challenging because Virginia's A-weighted decibel scale discounts these sounds. Loudoun County initially declined to regulate this tonal noise due to budget concerns and competitive disadvantage claims, while Prince William raised advisory measurements in nine octave bands to capture the low end. However, even after local efforts, the resulting technical values remain advisory and do not constitute the legal compliance test.