The Pros and Cons of Different Noise Barrier Materials - Hebei Jinbiao

Noise pollution is a growing concern in both residential and urban areas. Whether you’re a homeowner looking to create a peaceful retreat, an urban planner aiming to reduce noise levels in a bustling city, or an environmental enthusiast interested in sustainable solutions, choosing the right noise barrier material is important.

1. Concrete Barriers

Concrete barriers are a common choice for noise reduction due to their effectiveness and durability. However, they come with both advantages and disadvantages.

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit JINBIAO.

Pros:

• High Effectiveness: Concrete barriers are highly effective at blocking noise, making them a go-to option for busy highways and industrial areas.
• Durability: These barriers are long-lasting and can withstand harsh weather conditions, reducing the need for frequent replacements.
• Low Maintenance: Once installed, concrete barriers require minimal maintenance, saving time and money in the long run.

Cons:

• High Initial Cost: The upfront cost of concrete barriers can be high, including materials and installation.
• Aesthetic Concerns: Concrete barriers can be visually unappealing and may not blend well with natural surroundings.
• Environmental Impact: The production of concrete has a significant carbon footprint, which may not align with environmental sustainability goals.

2. Earth Berms

Earth berms are natural noise barriers made from piled-up soil. They offer a more eco-friendly alternative, but they also have their own set of challenges.

Pros:

• Natural Aesthetics: Earth berms blend seamlessly with natural landscapes and can be landscaped with grass, shrubs, and trees.
• Environmental Benefits: Using natural materials reduces the carbon footprint and promotes biodiversity.
• Cost-Effective: Depending on the availability of soil, earth berms can be a cost-effective option.

Cons:

• Space Requirements: Earth berms require a significant amount of space, making them unsuitable for densely populated urban areas.
• Maintenance: Maintaining vegetation on earth berms can be labour-intensive and costly.
• Limited Effectiveness: While they can reduce noise levels, earth berms are generally less effective than concrete barriers.

3. Transparent Barriers

Transparent noise barriers are made from materials like acrylic or polycarbonate. They offer unique benefits but also come with some drawbacks.

Pros:

• Visibility: Transparent barriers preserve scenic views and allow natural light to pass through, making them ideal for areas where aesthetics are important.
• Durability: High-quality transparent materials are resistant to UV rays and weather conditions, ensuring a long lifespan.
• Modern Aesthetics: These barriers provide a sleek and modern look, enhancing the visual appeal of urban environments.

Cons:

• Cost: Transparent barriers can be more expensive than traditional materials due to the cost of materials and specialised installation.
• Maintenance: They may require regular cleaning to remove dirt and maintain transparency.
• Environmental Concerns: While more eco-friendly options are available, some transparent materials can have a larger environmental impact compared to natural alternatives.

4. Living Green Walls

Living green walls, or vertical gardens, use plants to create a natural noise barrier. They are gaining popularity for their environmental benefits and aesthetic appeal.

Pros:

• Environmental Benefits: Living green walls improve air quality, promote biodiversity, and reduce the urban heat island effect.
• Aesthetic Appeal: These walls add a touch of nature to urban settings, enhancing visual appeal and creating a calming atmosphere.
• Moderate Noise Reduction: While not as effective as concrete barriers, living green walls can still provide a noticeable reduction in noise levels.

Cons:

• Maintenance: Maintaining healthy plant growth requires regular watering, pruning, and sometimes fertilisation.
• Initial Cost: The installation of living green walls can be expensive, especially when considering irrigation systems and plant maintenance.
• Limited Effectiveness: They may not provide the same level of noise reduction as more solid barriers, especially in high-noise environments.

Conclusion

Choosing the right noise barrier material depends on your specific needs and priorities. Concrete barriers offer high effectiveness and durability but come with environmental and aesthetic drawbacks. Earth berms provide natural aesthetics and environmental benefits but require ample space and maintenance.

Transparent barriers preserve visibility and modern aesthetics but can be costly and require regular cleaning. Living green walls offer environmental and aesthetic benefits but may not be as effective in reducing noise and require ongoing maintenance. Consider your priorities and consult with experts to determine the best noise barrier material for your situation.

When used effectively, these barriers can greatly reduce noise pollution and create a more peaceful environment for all.  So, it is important to carefully consider all factors when choosing a noise barrier material, as each one has its own pros and cons.

Benefits of Noise Barriers

Noise is an acoustic event due to a combination of non-harmonic vibrations or often unwanted disturbing sounds. Some researchers call noise as daily terror. Noise can damage our ability to hear, either immediately or for a long time in a noisy environment, depending on its level.

Noise is known to adversely affect the human body and mental health. Elevated blood pressure in terms of physical health, depression, and stomach ulcers are the main negative consequences, and the psychological effects can be considered to make communication difficult, create fear, make people aggressive, prevent creative occupations, fatigue, create stress, prevent sleep time, reduce the value of resting time.

Benefits of noise barriers;

The highway noise barrier, also known as the sound barrier, is used for sound insulation between the noise source and the noise-affected zone. painfully called panels placed between them. These products, also called noise barriers, generally prevent the spread of traffic noise along lines such as roads, bridges.

For more information, please visit Noise Barrier Panel.

It is also used to prevent the spread of noise around machines such as generators, compressors, and the like. On the noise source side, some of the sounds that hit the screen are absorbed by the screen. This also improves the noise level on the noise source side.

• Noise barriers prevent bad noise from spreading to the environment.
• Noise is trapped between its source and does not spread to the environment.
• The Noise barriers made of rubber can be recycled.
• Durable for many years and costs very little.
• Since it can be covered with artificial grass, an aesthetically beautiful appearance is created.

These are the little benefits of noise barriers. So noise barriers are a very important detail for our lives. The use of noise barriers is very common in all developed countries. Because noise is linked to sophistication. The best thing about noise barriers is that they can be used for many years at no cost.

You will find noise barriers in all modern cities. Now, let us talk about the definition of noise and what noise levels disturb you.

Definition of noise and noise enhancing elements

Sound can be music for one person and noise for the other. It is written that there was torture with noise in history. Nowadays, people are being punished by the intense noise caused by irregular and unhealthy urbanization. According to the classification, noise between 30-65 dB (decibel) is disturbing in some cases.

However, the shape and size of the condition are very diverse. Insomnia starts at 45-50 dB. Some reactions occur in the nervous system between 65-90 dB. Noise between 90-120 dB starts to damage the hearing organs. Severe hearing impairments and deafness (loss of hearing) may occur if sounds in this dB persist for a long time.

The most obvious form of noise pollution is traffic noise. General elements to increase noise;

• Increase in population density,
• Mechanization as a result of technological development and industrialization process.
• The development of the transportation network, increasing the number, speed, and tonnage of vehicles.
• Expansion of settlement areas, unplanned and irregular urbanization.
• The ignorance and lack of education of the city people.
• Inadequacy in building and health services (acoustic property and inadequate sound insulation)
• Lightening and prefabrication that increase sound transmission in building technology
• They are economic factors that prevent prevention.

Noise control and measures to reduce noise

Noise control is possible on three levels. These; the reduction of the noise generated, preventing the access of the noise to the exposed ones (isolation of the source), and protection of the exposed ones. The first of the measures cover the measures to be taken in the buildings of industrial establishments and residential areas.

The second is to make use of the noise reduction properties of (biological) plants. The third one is to protect the individual with ear noise plugs. City-planning, separation of housing-industry-transportation places are the most important contemporary solution against noise.

One of the best measures to be taken is noise barriers. Thanks to the noise barriers, city life can be maintained more peacefully and vigorously.

Highway Noise Barriers as the Solution 

The elements that can be applied as highway noise prevention/reduction techniques are;

• Afforestation and greening, using noise barriers
• Exhaust noise control and speed control of vehicles
• Giving priority to noise-free public transport
• Road construction material and road quality to reduce noise
• Acoustic standardization of building materials to ensure sound insulation in buildings
• Preventing unnecessary horns of motor vehicles
• Awareness-raising of the public and drivers

In developed countries; natural and/or artificial noise barriers are used to reduce the noise that affects the residential areas negatively on highways with heavy traffic. Curtains formed with natural plant species are more durable and economical than those made with artificial materials. Also, plant species feed ecological and biological wealth.

It is reported that the noise of highways passing through city centers in large cities over 45 decibels, which forces human health, affects the mental health of those living in the surrounding settlements. 45 decibels should be avoided from the noise, as the size of the noise increases the destruction of mental health. Noisy environments cause tension and fatigue.