This part of ISO 17201 specifies methods of predicting sound exposure levels of shooting sound for a single shot at a given reception point. Guidelines are given to calculate other acoustic indices from the sound exposure level. The prediction is based on the angular source energy distribution of the muzzle blast as defined in ISO 17201-1 or calculated using values from ISO 17201-2.

This part of ISO 17201 applies to weapons with calibres of less than 20 mm or explosive charges of less than 50 g TNT equivalent, at distances where peak pressures, including the contribution from projectile sound, are less than 1 kPa (154 dB).