Growth function for human response to large-amplitude impulse noise

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed the use of C-weighted day/night level for the assessment of impulse noise such as the noise resulting from sonic boom, blast noise (artillery, armor, demolition, etc.) and other large-amplitude impulse sources. One remaining question pertaining to the use of C-weighting has been the growth function for human response to impulse noise. This question arises because work by Kryter and by Young using peak values and/or small amplitudes exhibited growth functions of 6--7dB for a doubling of annoyance, while the growth function for human response to common sources (planes, vehicles, etc.) increases by about 10 dB for a doubling of annoyance. Kyter's and Young's data are reanalyzed herein by using C-weighting and by including only large-amplitude data. This reanalysis results in a growth function for human response to impulse noise which increases by about 10 dB for a doubling of annoyance. This equality of growth function between common A-weighted noise and C-weighted impulse noise further supports the use of C-weighted day/night level for assessment of sonic boom, blast noise, or other large-amplitude impulse noises having similar spectral content.