The lure of faster speeds and reduced travel time for commercial flights may come to fruition soon with advances in low-boom technology.  The Concorde’s last flight in 2003 ended the first era in supersonic commercial travel.  Although supersonic flight of the Concorde resulted in loud sonic booms, decades of low-boom research have demonstrated the feasibility of reducing the boom to a “sonic thump.” Recent advances in understanding and predicting human perception of these sonic thumps have coincided with renewed interest from industry in pursuing development of a new generation of quiet commercial supersonic aircraft.

In addition to articles from AT, the Acoustical Society of America has a growing list of podcasts, based on interesting articles in its various publications, that discuss a wide range of topics.   Here is one on How loud is X-59’s shaped sonic boom?