ISO 17208 series describe procedures for the measurement of underwater sound radiated by the ship under test, and for calculating sound source quantities such as source level and radiated noise level from the measurement results.

In ISO 17208-1 to ISO 17208-3 it is presumed that the ship under test cooperates in the measurements, sailing multiple runs over a specified track past the measurement system at a specified speed with pre-determined machinery configurations. Opportunistic measurements of the radiated sound of passing ships are outside the scope of these three standards.

Part 1 of the ISO 17208 standards[1] provides the procedure to quantify the underwater sound from the ship in terms of its radiated noise level, which is calculated from the sound pressure level (SPL) measured in the far field of the ship, in beam aspect, scaled by the distance to CPA and reported in decidecade bands. The intended use of radiated noise level is to show compliance with contract requirements or criteria, for comparison of one ship to another ship, to enable periodic signature assessments, and for research and development.

ISO 17208-2[1] specifies methods for calculating the source level of an equivalent monopole source at a specified nominal source depth from the radiated noise level values obtained according to ISO 17208-1. The intended use of source level, with associated nominal source depth, is to perform far field sound predictions such as needed for environmental impact studies or for creating underwater sound contour maps.

ISO 17208-1 and ISO 17208-2[1] are applicable for measurements in deep water, defined as water depth greater than the larger of 150 m and 1,5 times overall ship length. The allowable water depths and environmental conditions for part 3 measurements are described in 4.5.

This document specifies procedures for the measurement of underwater sound radiated by the ship under test in shallow water. It also specifies procedures for the calculation of source level, with associated nominal source depth, from the sound pressure measurements, accounting for the relevant phenomena that govern the propagation of sound in shallow water. These calculations are described in Clause 7. Once the source level has been calculated, other metrics may be calculated from the source level and the source depth. 7.3 provides a procedure for calculating the radiated noise level that would have been measured in deep water according to ISO 17208-1 for the same ship with the same operating condition.