Sonic boom is a special aero-acoustic phenomenon for supersonic aircraft, which contains both the fields of aerodynamics and nonlinear acoustics, so it is of important academic significance and application prospect. The present paper introduces its basic conception and major characteristics, the research history of its generation, development and evolution, and its harmfulness; Then the numerical simulation method, wind tunnel experiment method and flight test method of sonic boom researches are emphatically presented, and also including the recently proposed sonic boom inhibition and low boom optimization design methods; Finally, the current technique difficulties and challenges of sonic boom prediction are summarized.