National Academies Press: OpenBook

Report on Human Response to the Sonic Boom (1968)

Chapter: Work of the Subcommittee

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Suggested Citation:"Work of the Subcommittee." National Research Council. 1968. Report on Human Response to the Sonic Boom. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18775.
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Suggested Citation:"Work of the Subcommittee." National Research Council. 1968. Report on Human Response to the Sonic Boom. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18775.
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Suggested Citation:"Work of the Subcommittee." National Research Council. 1968. Report on Human Response to the Sonic Boom. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18775.
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over populated areas. Even if, as we assume, the present generation of SSTs will be restricted essentially to routes over water, this research is required to provide basic criteria necessary to the design of a future commercial SST which will be able to fly over populated areas at frequent intervals without undue annoyance to the residents of such areas. Key elements in the proposed research program include: 1. Development of a framework of analysis and of tools of measurement for an effective study, in depth, of the advantages and disadvantages of overland SST flights. 2. Continued laboratory studies of the properties of the sonic boom most important to an understanding of such human reactions as annoyance and startle. 3. Renovation of existing facilities where necessary and construction of specialized new facilities for better simulation of sonic boom to involve additional qualified investigators who seek to make specific laboratory studies of human response to the sonic boom. 4. Studies of human response to the sonic boom during sleep. 5. Continued studies, both of individuals and of organ- ized communities, to overflights at different sonic boom levels, to be conducted if and when military overflight programs provide the opportunities for such studies. 6. Development of organizational arrangement and methodological work needed to support the research proposed above. III. WORK OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE The Subcommittee on Human Response has undertaken to examine the research activities of the past ten years relating to the response of individuals, communities, and organized groups to sonic booms produced by military aircraft flying supersonically. Pertinent documents from government, industry, and universities, both domestic and European, were reviewed, including the recently con- ducted Edwards Air Force Base program. Some preliminary data that became available as a result of operational suitability testing -2-

of new Air Force supersonic aircraft were also examined. Several Sub- committee meetings were held to examine intensively the problems of studying individual, group, and organized community response of sonic boom effects. The purpose was to assess the current state of such activities and to recommend further research. Central to human response studies made up to this time has been a tacit concept of a threshold of "acceptability" or "tolerability. " Al- though there is currently no consensus as to the definition or even the appropriateness of such a concept, a diligent attempt should be made to think through what is meant by the concepts of "acceptability" or "tolerability. " In view of all the difficulties of measuring the phenomena in- volved, future work should involve measurements of a variety of response criteria, at both the individual and the community level, where military overflight programs provide the possibilities for doing such work. It would seem that the most appropriate approach, if it can be implemented, would be to measure the full range of social costs which might be incur- red to offset the foreseeable benefits of the SST. As the idea of a threshold of annoyance above which reactions are "inacceptable" or "intolerable" and below which they are "tolerable" or "acceptable" now seems inappropriate, the threshold may be better thought of as a boundary condition not to be exceeded routinely by commercial SST flights over populated areas. The establishment of such a boundary condition is considered to be of fundamental importance; therefore, a study of the balance of costs and benefits involved should be accomplished prior to its establishment. Despite the problems of determining fully acceptable measures of all such costs and benefits which could assist in the narrowing of the controlling boundary condi- tions , it is imperative to keep in mind the fact that this is the appro- priate framework within which to think of the problem. Community reactions cannot yet be predicted with certainty. We can only speak in terms of the probability of effective organized reaction. This will increase as the annoyance of the individuals in the community increases; the effective expression may depend on some dramatic trigger incident or the emergence of a vocal leader of public opinion. However, studies leading to the establishment of the suggested boundary condi- tion will provide useful guidance not now available. In fact, the value of the boundary condition will depend on the extent to which we can approximate this ideal. The costs to be considered must be thought of both in terms of the response of individuals who may be disturbed or annoyed, and in -3-

terms of the problems created for the orderly and economical manage- ment of that portion of the society that is involved. Thus, one can imagine two hypothetical alternative "intolerable" conditions. At one extreme a population might accept SST booms quite passively, while suffering extensive annoyance and disturbance as individuals. At the other extreme, a population might, as individuals, suffer relatively little annoyance and disturbance, yet generate such a level of complaint behavior and of community reaction as to make the situation politically very difficult. Either one of these circumstances could prove "intoler- able" in some meaningful sense. While the management of problems of society is strongly dependent on the level of individual discomfiture, past experience with similar phenomena indicates that the two are not identical and that they vary to some extent independently of each other. Certainly the early history of urban renewal has revealed conditions under which individuals can suffer greatly without mounting any sizeable protest. On the other hand, there are controversial issues which have created a considerable amount of public disturbance but appear to have involved little or no actual costs to the ostensibly aggrieved individuals. One of the tasks of continuing research on human response to the sonic boom will be to identify and understand more fully the complete range of responses, both of individuals and of organized communities to varying levels and frequencies of sonic booms. Some portions of the research of the sort to be proposed may appear to be costly if any considerable amount is done. Relatively speaking, and in terms of its potential usefulness in making sound management decisions affecting the future flight of the SST over popu- lated areas, much of the proposed research on human response can be considered to be among the least expensive of all the major facets of research connected with the development and operation of the SST. In terms of field work for example, the very small cost of human response studies relative to the cost of flying supersonic aircraft in overflight tests, makes clear the need to be ready to gather a maximum of appropriate human response data should appropriate opportunities arise in connection with scheduled supersonic military training flights over populated areas. From our present perspective all of the research and other activities recommended below appear relevant and necessary. Money spent wisely in this manner may well save large sums of money that -4-

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