Risk of Auditory Injury Caused by Area-Effect Flashbangs: Multiple Area-Distributed Impulses and the Role of the Acoustic Reflex
Abstract
Human effects modeling of intermediate force capabilities includes the goal of estimating the risk of injury associated with devices that are used in highly variable operational settings. In the case of multi-impulse flashbangs, existing models for risk of hearing loss do not typically capture the uncertainties associated with the timing and spatial distribution of multiple impulses. Existing models also do not accurately model the effect of the acoustic reflex, which should be activated for a short time after a loud impulse noise exposure in some fraction of the population. In lieu of accurate modeling of these types of effects (timing, distribution, and physiological), the expected injury risk can be bounded by applying limiting assumptions on dose accumulation. In this report, we apply this bounding approach to estimate the risk of hearing loss for multi-impulse, area-distributed sound exposure scenarios. Using Monte-Carlo simulations, we also explore the role of variables such as the number of impulses, their spatial distribution, and the uncertainty in individual impulse intensity on the expected risk of injury. We show that the uncertainty in the estimate of injury risk is greater for more intense exposures or those with more impulses, and demonstrate the importance of accounting for sound output variation and multi-impulse distribution in mapping risk of injury within an area.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1150275
Entities
People
- Emily A. Fedele
- Felicia D. Sallis-peterson
- Jessica G. Swallow
Organizations
- Institute for Defense Analyses