Do tracks now run next to your cosy home and goods trains constantly rattle behind the garden fence? Do you live in the flight path of an airport? Or does a motorway run past your bedroom window? Keeping noise away from your home is often not that easy. But now there are clever noise protection concepts that look nicer than noise barriers.
Do you know soundscaping? With this method, you can protect your property from noise without having to cut it off from the rest of the world with soundproof walls. The term comes from English and is composed of the words "sound" for noise and "landscape" for scenery. It means: to consciously create a sound environment. And it means: to overlay noise with pleasant sounds.
This is already being used in cities and shopping centres. The classic is, of course, the use of relaxing music. Today, there are only a few shops without music. But birdsong is also possible, for example. Where soundscaping is used, the noise of crowds, for example, fades into the background. The cause is our brain. It emphasises the pleasant sounds. Rustling leaves of trees and bushes or birdsong are quasi-natural soundscaping. But it can also be created artificially - and it doesn't have to be Alexa, Siri or Cortana.
Water features are a good way to effectively combat noise in the garden. The splashing of water allows the noise of the street to be overheard. There are many different ways to "design" the garden landscape with the sounds of water: starting with a small bowl from which water trickles, to fountains in various sizes, to a stream that bubbles into the garden pond. The volume of the sound of the water varies from person to person. However, it can be adjusted. For example, it also depends on the height from which the water splashes.
Another way to relax is to hear the rustling of leaves or tall grass in the wind. It is true that you cannot influence when the wind blows and how strong it is. But there are plants that make a pleasant rustling noise even with a gentle breeze. This works with tall grasses or evergreen bamboo. Other evergreen plants with large, round leaves are also suitable. These "swallow" the sound because it is dispersed in many directions.
Ivy, for example, is such a plant. It is evergreen and the leaves have the appropriate shape and are also oriented to intercept sound. An additional advantage is that ivy grows well in both shady and sunny places. Wrinkled snowball is another plant that can protect against noise. It too is evergreen, grows well in garden soils and partial shade, and its leaves are oriented to repel sound. Hedges and bushes can also keep out noise if they are evenly spaced and not bare at the base.
Do you have a property in a difficult location? Contact us. We will be happy to advise you.
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