Introduction:

The main source of noise in the city of Havana is land traffic. However, complaints have mostly dealt with sources of mechanical noise and musical audio. Last year there were some complaints about exposure to so-called "sonic attacks" by US diplomats.

Objective:

Ground the improbability that the unusual urban sounds referred here constituted sonic attacks.

Methods:

Some recordings of the target sound supplied were analyzed and also, background noise was characterized through sound level measurements. It was watched that, background noise at night is connected eventually to presence or absence of crickets (Grillus assimilis) in green settings of a residential neighborhood, Western of Havana.

Results:

Target sound is described on behalf its frequency structure, by two main shapes, one of them reflects a broadband noise with a high pitch overlapped. The other one has no high frequency pitch. Several target sounds events recorded show certain likeness to the background with cricket sounds.

Conclusions:

The intensity of exposure does not support the hypothesis of induced health damage. Sometimes the target sound level is close to the background level. Directional sound at the reported levels does not seem able to penetrate the built environment.

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