Leq as a measure of annoyance caused by gunfire consisting of impulses with various proportions of higher and lower sound levels

As a method of rating sounds with respect to the expected community response, ISO(1971). ISO R 1996, ‘‘Assessment of noise with respect to community response’’ (International organization for Standarization, Switzerland), recommends the measurement of the A‐weighted equivalent sound level Leq. The usefulness of Leq for road‐traffic sounds has been demonstrated in various studies. For impulse sounds, however, research into the adequacy of Leq has been very limited. The present laboratory study provides a further test of the adequacy of Leq as a descriptor of annoyance. In one condition, all impulse sounds had the same level, whereas in the other eight conditions the levels of the impulses could differ either by 6 or by 12 dB. The proportions of the impulses with high or low sound levels were 90% vs 10%, 75% vs 25%, and vice versa. Sixteen subjects compared the annoyance caused by the impulse sounds (G) with the annoyance due to road‐traffic sounds (T). They adjusted the level of either T or G in such a way...