Impulsive sound-level response statistics in a reverberant enclosure

Some response measures of a reverberant enclosure excited by an impulsive noise source are considered from both experimental and analytical viewpoints. The response measures of interest are the rms sound pressure and the sound-pressure-level exceedance probability distribution. A variety of experimental situations are examined for infrequently occurring source impulses — a situation for which an analytical approach can be readily developed. The model involves the use of an energy-partition method in order to estimate the rms sound pressure and the use of an equivalent linear single-degree-of-freedom system in order to calculate the normalized exceedance probability distribution. The calculated response statistics agree quite well with measured data. Results of these studies have applications in predicting total noise exposure, for example, when dealing with impulse noise-control problems.