Connecting high-power jet noise characteristics with human annoyance

DoD has funded the development of advanced modeling tools for community noise exposures and for exploring noise reduction techniques. However, inadequate understanding of high-power jet noise sources and the effects of radiated noise on people are both limiting factors in mitigating community noise exposure. In the meantime, both ground personnel and community noise exposure lead to annoyance and disturbance, costly noise mitigation, and burdensome restrictions on operations. Therefore, DoD is exploring acoustical metrics that may better correlate jet noise exposure to human response. More broadly, DoD and the jet noise research community desire an increased understanding of jet noise source characterization to best focus on promising strategies for reducing jet noise impacts. This research project seeks to address these two needs by increasing the understanding of tactical jet noise sources and by correlating their physical noise features, such as noise source distribution, directivity, and shock content, with human response related to annoyance, disturbance, and the perception of crackle. This presentation will provide an overview of the project’s objectives. [Work Supported by AF SBIR Program.]