Sleep Impacts of Nighttime Training Noise from Large Weapons on Residents Living Near a Military Installation

http://stinet.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=A476918&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf


Abstract: Training during the hours of darkness is a necessity for the Army and other branches of the Department of Defense (DoD). Nighttime training is needed to ensure military forces are ready for combat, but in-stallations also endeavor to minimize community noise disturbance and resulting negative public reaction. As a result, most installations restrict nighttime training or enforce training curfews to reduce the negative im-pact of the nighttime training noise on local residents. There is, however, little research-based guidance on the types of restrictions and curfews needed to effectively reduce the negative impact. Consequently, current training restrictions may sacrifice more training capability than necessary.
During the fall of 2004 a field study was conducted adjacent to a military installation to determine if there are preferred times to conduct nighttime training. The results of this research project clearly and strongly indicate that community disturbance is more effectively reduced by conducting training between 0000 and 0200 hours, and avoiding noisy training dur-ing the evening hours before midnight. These findings suggest that night-time training should be postponed until after midnight in order to effec-tively reduce the negative impact of nighttime training on local residents and to preserve nighttime training capabilities throughout DoD