Recovery act TAS:: 80 0125:: title: innovative approach to near-real time assessment of community response to low amplitude sonic booms the contractor shall design and execute an experiment at edwards…

This is a $400,369.00 firm fixed price contract awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center, a civilian federal agency, to Fidell Associates Inc., a for-profit subchapter S corporation. The contract is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and is focused on an experiment to assess community response to low-amplitude sonic booms at Edwards Air Force Base. The work includes designing the experiment, collecting acoustic and subjective data, and analyzing the results to identify strategies to minimize transient effects when introducing a new noise source to a community. This contract is not associated with a larger vehicle and does not have a set-aside designation.

Recovery act TAS:: 80 0125:: title: innovative approach to near-real time assessment of community response to low amplitude sonic booms the contractor shall design and execute an experiment at edwards air force base (EAFB) to gather data relating the impact of sonic boom exposure to EAFB community residents (a community already accustomed to hearing sonic booms). The low-boom events generated by existing aircraft shall occur over a period of approximately two weeks. The contractor shall acquire data of sufficient quantity and quality to enable a thorough evaluation of the survey methods used, data acquired, and analysis methods employed. The effectiveness of the test methodology for community response testing shall be demonstrated. The contractor shall identify and address issues related to conducting future experiments in a community unaccustomed to hearing sonic booms. The contractor should also include the identification of strategies to minimize transient/adaptation effects associated with the introduction of a new noise source to a community. Components of the experimental design that shall be addressed include: noise exposure (levels and numbers of sonic booms), number of participants, and data acquisition methods (using smart phone technology). Questionnaire design shall enable comparisons to be made with results from previous sonic boom and community noise surveys. Survey instruments shall be pre-tested, and survey methodologies shall be developed in sufficient detail to provide the material necessary to secure office of management and budget approval for data collection from the general public in future experiments. The work shall be divided into three tasks. In the first task, data collection options that are feasible using smart phone technology will be examined and assessed. In the second task, the detailed experimental design shall be developed, and the experiment shall be planned. In the third task, the experiment shall be executed and the acoustic and subjective data from the experiment shall be analyzed and results documented, including recommendations for future experiments. Tasks 3.1 and 3.2 and corresponding deliverables under task 3.4.1 will be funded under the american recovery and reinvestment act (ARRA). For this task, the contractor shall comply with the reporting requirements in far clause 52.204-11, american recovery and reinvestment act reporting requirements.