Bamboo plants as a noise barrier to reduce road traffic noise

Research shows that it is possible to use living bamboo plants along roads as a noise barrier to reduce road traffic noise. The benefit is that a barrier of bamboo looks much nicer than a "hard" screen. A barrier of living bamboo is much more environmental friendly, cheap in construction and management, and contributes to a sustainable infrastructure. From the acoustical point of view, the most critical factor is the sound isolation which is limited by leakage through openings between the bamboo stems. The best solution is obtained by a bamboo species with a very high density: more stems per square meter. In other words, when bamboo grows closer together the results on noise reduction is better. This feasibility study shows that the noise-reducing effect of a bamboo noise barrier with a height of 5 meters and a thickness of 6 meters is roughly comparable to a 3 meter high solid noise barrier.