Sonic boom and the "rise time" of the shock which makes the boom seem louder. On most aircraft designs the characteristic distance is about , meaning that below this altitude the sonic boom will be "softer". However, the drag at this altitude or below makes supersonic travel particularly inefficient, which poses a serious problem. The pressure from sonic booms caused by aircraft often are a few pounds per square foot. A vehicle flying at greater altitude will generate lower pressures on the ground, because the shock wave reduces in intensity as it spreads out away from the vehicle, but the sonic booms
Large aircraft and cost reasons. Barring a few military types, no practical large aircraft has ever had more than four engines. As aircraft get bigger, it therefore becomes necessary to design bigger engines. The airspeed of a fan blade must be kept below the speed of sound in order to avoid damaging and noisy shock waves. This maximum speed of the tip sets a limit on the rate of rotation. For a given rate of rotation, the tip of a larger fan will travel faster. So to keep down the top speed of a large engine, the fan must spin more slowly.