Noise Due to Firecracker Explosions

Abstract

During New Year's Eve and some festivals some people are subjected to a great number of firecracker explosions. The peak sound pressure levels, originating from the explosions, can cause annoyance, fire hazards, loss of hearing, serious personal injuries, and even deaths. The immission of a peak sound pressure level at a given location due to an individual firecracker depends mainly on its sound power, the distance from explosion, and the sound pressure distribution in the time and frequency domain. In this paper, some practical measurements have been taken over a New Year's Eve and the results were compared with other days. Special emphasis is given to statistical aspects and probability distribution function of peak sound pressure levels, originating from a great number of firecracker random explosions. Results have shown that the probability distribution closely follows the Rayleigh distribution, but when the number of explosions in unit time is high enough, it tends to a Gaussian (normal) distribution.