Comparison and evaluation of physics-based outdoor sound propagation assessment schemes

Abstract

Evaluating the effectiveness of outdoor sound propagation assessment schemes using experimentally collected data is a complex task. Specifically, when the acoustic data collected assume non-Gaussian distributions with differing sample sizes per assigned class, traditional parametric statistical techniques may not be used. As an alternative, this research introduces an original cost function to evaluate and compare various methods aimed at defining acoustic propagation classes based on meteorological measurements. Class assignments in each scheme are based on the atmospheric stability, the strength of the vertical effective sound speed gradient, and the vertical effective sound speed profile. The acoustic data included in this analysis were generated by a high-energy impulsive source and gathered at source-to-receiver distances of 1, 2, 4, and 8 km. The results indicate that the assessment scheme based on the strength of the effective sound speed gradient most effectively classifies the peak level sound propagation sampled in temperate and desert climate conditions at these distances.