How much influence does vegetation have on traffic noise, and what does it take for it to effectively reduce noise levels.
Vegetation along roadsides can serve as a natural noise barrier under specific conditions. The vegetation must be a forest-like, broad and very densely grown, belt of vegetation – otherwise the physical noise reduction is close to zero. These examples show the effect of a 50-metre broad belt of forest trees (10 metres high) situated 15 metres away from the roadside.
Instructions
- Connect your headset to your computer and ensure that the left and right channels are correctly set.
- Press the black boxes (audio playback controls) to start the sound demonstrations.
- During playback, you can switch between different audio options to compare noise levels.
- Avoid adjusting the volume, as this may interfere with the calibrated settings for your system.
How to listen to auralisations
You can adjust the sound level of your playback system (PC, tablet, or smartphone) using the sound file for adjustment of volume on this page.
Adjust the level to the point where it sounds like a person speaking at normal volume one meter in front of you. You can compare it to a real person speaking at a meter’s distance. You may have to adjust the level a couple of times before you’re confident the level is right.
Get the most out of auralisations
In order to get the most out of the auralisations, you should do the following:
- Read the prerequisites below. You get the full information on the different situations (traffic flow, type of road etc.) in the grey tabs below.
- Adjust the “playback level” as described to get the correct volume in your headset.
- Listen to the auralisations by clicking the appropriate text in the box. When the sound files are loaded into your browser you can instantly switch between different sound files – which makes differences appear immediately.
