George A. Luz
Nelson D. Lewis
William A. Russell, Jr.
Bio-Acoustics Div., U.S. Army Ctr. for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21010-5422
Past studies of the annoyance of heavy weapons noise have shown the relationship between the yearly average exposure and average annoyance as reported by residents. However, no one has reported the relationship between individual weapons blasts and the annoyance reported by homeowners who were experiencing these events inside their own home. As part of a noise and vibration measurement study undertaken in response to community complaints, four homeowners made judgments of the annoyance of heavy weapons noise. When these judgments were plotted against the outdoor measured linear peak SPL, ``moderate annoyance'' was found to begin just above 115 dB. This finding is consistent with a report by L. L. Pater in 1976 that there was a low probability of complaints from residents living in the vicinity of the Naval Surface Weapons Center, Dahlgren, VA, if weapons blasts were below 115-dB peak at the complainant's home.