Articles
Influence of plant species on noise control performance of hedges
Article number
1429_13
Pages
117 – 124
Language
English
Abstract
Adverse health effects and annoyance can result from noise in urban environments.
Effective mitigation of noise can be achieved through properly designed and installed noise barriers.
However, the barriers commonly used in the UK provide little visual or biodiversity benefit.
Hedges have been demonstrated to provide valuable ecosystem services (e.g., biodiversity support, flood mitigation), and are used as boundaries to public spaces such as schools, parks and gardens.
The study therefore aims to investigate whether sound reduction could be included in the ecosystem services of hedges.
The sound attenuation provided by the vegetative elements of hedges has been measured, and the dependence of performance on the species determined.
The change in performance between winter and summer conditions has also been measured.
Species chosen were a selection of those frequently used in hedges in the UK (Prunus laurocerasus, Fagus sylvatica, Taxus baccata, Thuja plicata, Ligustrum ovalifolium). The effect of different leaf size among species and canopy density has been measured to relate to the insertion loss performance.
The test samples were ‘instant hedges’ planted in grow-bags.
Controlled conditions for the measurements were provided by using specialist acoustic facilities.
Sound reduction data are presented showing that plants with larger, ovate leaves such as Prunus laurocerasus perform better than plants with needle-like or scale-like leaves.
Also, that marcescent leaves on deciduous plants continue to provide some benefit compared with woody plant structures alone.
Losses are seen at mid to high frequencies only.
Effective mitigation of noise can be achieved through properly designed and installed noise barriers.
However, the barriers commonly used in the UK provide little visual or biodiversity benefit.
Hedges have been demonstrated to provide valuable ecosystem services (e.g., biodiversity support, flood mitigation), and are used as boundaries to public spaces such as schools, parks and gardens.
The study therefore aims to investigate whether sound reduction could be included in the ecosystem services of hedges.
The sound attenuation provided by the vegetative elements of hedges has been measured, and the dependence of performance on the species determined.
The change in performance between winter and summer conditions has also been measured.
Species chosen were a selection of those frequently used in hedges in the UK (Prunus laurocerasus, Fagus sylvatica, Taxus baccata, Thuja plicata, Ligustrum ovalifolium). The effect of different leaf size among species and canopy density has been measured to relate to the insertion loss performance.
The test samples were ‘instant hedges’ planted in grow-bags.
Controlled conditions for the measurements were provided by using specialist acoustic facilities.
Sound reduction data are presented showing that plants with larger, ovate leaves such as Prunus laurocerasus perform better than plants with needle-like or scale-like leaves.
Also, that marcescent leaves on deciduous plants continue to provide some benefit compared with woody plant structures alone.
Losses are seen at mid to high frequencies only.
Authors
J. Webb, T. Cox, T. Blanua, O. Umnova, A. Griffiths
Keywords
green infrastructure, hedge, species, insertion loss, urban hedges
Online Articles (57)