Mysterious loud sound heard in Bengaluru; residents compare it to last year's sonic boom

Residents of Bengaluru city heard a loud sound today, 2 July, at around 12:15 pm. This sound left windows and doors rattling for a few seconds reminding people of the sonic boom they heard a year back.The silicon city had witnessed a similar incident in May 2020, after which the defence department claimed that the sound was a sonic boom that was caused by a test flight.Reacting to the loud sound heard today in Bengaluru, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) said it could not comment on what caused the sound."Regular sorties of fighters and trainers take place from HAL airport. Today was no different. HAL can't comment on the loud noise reportedly heard today in Bengaluru," said HAL spokesperson Gopal Sutar.Meanwhile, residents around the city stated that their windows and doors rattled because of the "boom".While others took to social media and reported about the loud boom heard in many parts of Bengaluru. As per the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), there was no signal of any local tremor or earthquake, reports Indian Express.In a statement, KSNDMC said that a loud sound by the local community was heard from Kengeri, Rajarajeswari Nagar and Vijayanagar, Bengaluru today between 12:00 to 12:45 pm. They further asserted that the data was closely analysed from the Seismic Observatory for any possible seismic signs of an earthquake but it showed no signals.What is a sonic ‘boom’ sound and how does it occur?A sonic boom happens when an object travels through the air which is faster than the speed of sound. This creates shock waves in the air leading to a huge emission in energy, resulting in sound (could be similar to an explosion). Mostly, sonic booms occur when a supersonic aircraft is travelling in air. With this loud noise, it may create a loud boom and damage a few structures too.