title: Traffic noise reduction at balconies on a high-rise building façade.
abstract: The performance of balconies with ceiling-mounted reflectors on a high-rise building façade is examined using numerical analyses and scale-model experiments. The reflectors are designed to reflect direct and diffracted waves incident on the ceiling outside the balcony. The sound pressure reduction, provided by the reflectors, on a window surface adjacent to the balcony is evaluated at intermediate floors levels. In terms of A-weighted sound pressure levels, a balcony equipped with reflectors reduces road traffic noise by 7-10 dB(A), compared to an ordinary balcony, at incident angles of noise close to the angle for which the reflectors are designed. The efficiency is roughly the same as, or greater than, that of a balcony with an absorbent ceiling. However, it is also shown that when the vertical incident angle of the noise is smaller than the design angle of the reflectors, or the horizontal incident angle is large, efficiency is reduced.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Technology, Shimizu Corporation, 3-4-17, Etchujima, Tokyo, 135-8530, Japan. ishiduka@shimz.co.jp
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishizuka
authors.forename: Kyoji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fujiwara