Loudness and Annoyance Response to Simulated Outdoor and Indoor Sonic Booms

The sonic boom simulator of the Langley Research Center was used to quantify subjective loudness and annoyance response to simulated indoor and outdoor sonic boom signatures. The indoor signatures were derived from the outdoor signatures by application of house filters that approximated the noise reduction characteristics of a residential structure. Two indoor listening situations were simulated: one with the windows open and the other with the windows closed. Results were used to assess loudness and annoyance as sonic boom criterion measures and to evaluate several metrics as estimators of loudness and annoyance. The findings indicated that loudness and annoyance were equivalent criterion measures for outdoor booms but not for indoor booms. Annoyance scores for indoor booms were significantly higher than indoor loudness scores. Thus annoyance was recommended as the criterion measure of choice for general use in assessing sonic boom subjective effects. Perceived Level was determined to be the best estimator of annoyance for both indoor and outdoor booms, and of loudness for outdoor booms. It was recommended as the metric of choice for predicting sonic boom subjective effects.