§ Mr. Brooksasked the Minister of Aviation what tests have so far been conducted in this country to ascertain the effects upon the population of the sonic bangs which will be created by the supersonic airliner fleets anticipated in the next decade.
§ Mr. MulleyLaboratory studies of reactions to sonic bangs have been carried out by the Medical Research Council Applied Psychology Unit, the Institute of Sound and Vibration at Southampton and by the National Physical Laboratory. Ministry of Aviation establishments have also conducted field tests with simulated sonic bangs. The effects of actual sonic bangs have been studied on a number of occasions when supersonic flights have taken place over the United Kingdom including the demonstration "Exercise 123W Westminster" for Members of Parliament held at Upwood in 1965. The results of tests in the United Kingdom are supplemented by information from experimental work in France and the United States which has been made available to me.