Weapon noise exposure of the soldier and its measurement.

Abstract

On the battlefield a soldier is continuously exposed to various types of noise. Much of this exposure is noise generated by his own weapon or by weapons of close by troops. The exposure levels are between 160-dB peak for small arms and 190-dB peak at the soldier’s ear for some antitank weapons, with A-durations from 0.3 ms (small caliber) to 4 ms for large caliber weapons (e.g., Howitzers). As these parameters feed into the damage risk criteria which are in use by the armed forces of different countries, it is important that the recorded pressure time histories are as precise as possible. The paper will present the acoustic levels to which a soldier may be exposed by different types of weapon and under different circumstances. It also will present measurement techniques to use for reliable results.