Acoustic renovation for an office courtyard near a busy highway

A complex of several office buildings utilizes a common courtyard as an outdoor gathering space. Regularly scheduled events and celebrations occur in this space. These activities can be disrupted by the noise emitted by vehicular traffic on a nearby busy highway. Field tests were conducted to quantify and characterize the background ambient sound due to the road traffic. The office complex, courtyard, and highway were modeled in a computer aided design system, and various renovation concepts to reduce the perception of highway noise at the venue were studied. The auralized results of design studies were used to generate a virtual reality presentation for evaluation by office management. The reduction of highway noise by several treatment options was noticeable. Also, perceived voice clarity (speech intelligibility) in the courtyard improved with reduced noise. The recommended design treatment provided a significant calculated reduction in highway noise level, with an improved acoustic environment (as perceived) for comfort and speech clarity.