Guidance for noise reduction provided by tree belts

Abstract

The effects of noise reduction of six tree belts were examined. An amplifier was placed in front of each tree belt, while a noise meter was placed at various heights and distances behind the tree belt. Net noise reduction effect termed as "relative attenuation" was obtained by subtracting the sound pressure level at each measurement site behind the tree belt from the sound pressure level at equal distances over open ground. Five parameters, including visibility, height, and width of the tree belt, height of receiver and noise source, and the distance between noise source and receiver, were studied. A multiple regression model demonstrating the order of importance of the five parameters in relation to relative attenuation was developed. The five parameters were then transformed into three-dimensionless parameters, i.e., h : receiver and noise source height/tree height, d : distance between noise source and receiver/tree height, and m : belt width/visibility. By plotting the relative attenuation on the coordinate axis of h , d and m and curve fitting, a three-dimensionless map of noise reduction by tree belts was formed. The map can be used as guidance in designing three belts for noise reduction in environmental planning.

Analysis of socio-environmental impacts of the loss of urban trees and vegetation in Lahore, Pakistan: a review of public perception

“…Urban green spaces provide employment opportunities and help attract businesses and tourists to an area (Swanwick et al 2003). The city's vegetation effectively plays its role in moderating urban heat island impacts and urban hydrology and air quality and in reducing noise pollution as well as the energy demands (Pauleit and Duhme 2000;Fang 2005;González et al 2005;Konijnendijk et al 2005). What is not known is how resilient urban vegetation is and will it change over time.…”

Relationship between urban green spaces and other features of urban morphology with traffic noise distribution

“…This broad category includes mainly parks, forests, public squares, recreational grounds and private front or backyard garden land. Ongoing interdisciplinary research is being carried out; either emphasizing the effect of vegetation non traffic noise in terms of trees, plants and hedges (Kragh, 1981;Huddart, 1990;Van Renterghem and Botteldooren, 2002;Fang and Ling, 2005;Kang, 2007;Wong et al, 2010;Pathak et al, 2011;Yang et al, 2011;Horoshenkov et al, 2013;Van Renterghem et al,2014) or studying the acoustic properties of the ground in terms of porosity and other similar parameters (Attenborough, 2002;Gołebiewski, 2007;Attenborough et al, 2012;Bashir et al, 2015). Previous work has put emphasis on individually assessing the effectiveness of parks on traffic noise reduction (González-Oreja et al, 2010;Cohen et al, 2014).…”

Anticipated Performance Index of some tree species considered for green belt development in and around an urban area: A case study of Varanasi city, India

“…Leaf petioles are more efficient particulate impactors than either twigs (stems) or leaf lamina (Ingold, 1971). Green belts also reduce noise pollution (Pal et al, 2000;Fang and Ling, 2005;Martı´nez-Sala et al, 2006).…”