The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America·1978
Area of Science:
Acoustics
Environmental Science
Human Response to Noise
Background:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed using C-weighted day/night level for assessing impulse noise, including sonic booms and blast noise.
A key question involves the growth function for human annoyance to impulse noise, with previous studies showing a 6-7 dB increase for doubling annoyance.
This contrasts with common noise sources, which show a 10 dB increase for a doubling of annoyance.
Purpose of the Study:
To reanalyze existing data on human response to impulse noise using C-weighting.
To determine the growth function for human annoyance to large-amplitude impulse noise.
To compare the growth function of impulse noise with that of common noise sources.
Main Methods:
Reanalysis of data from Kryter and Young on human response to impulse noise.
Application of C-weighting to the analyzed data.
Inclusion of only large-amplitude impulse noise data in the reanalysis.
Main Results:
The reanalysis revealed a growth function of approximately 10 dB for a doubling of annoyance for impulse noise.
This finding aligns with the growth function observed for common noise sources (e.g., A-weighted noise from planes and vehicles).
The study demonstrates that C-weighted impulse noise exhibits a similar annoyance growth rate to common A-weighted noise.
Conclusions:
The findings support the use of C-weighted day/night level for assessing impulse noises like sonic booms and blast noise.
The equal growth function strengthens the EPA's proposed assessment method for large-amplitude impulse noise.
This research provides a clearer understanding of human annoyance response to impulse noise, aiding environmental noise policy.