THE TRADITIONAL BALINESE COMPOUND WALLS AS A BARRIER OF TRAFFIC NOISE

ABSTRACT The traditional Balinese walls have been not only a way to express local identity but also a medium to be a noise barrier. However, no study has been conducted to investigate the traditional wall’s noise barrier. Therefore, this paper explored and investigated the potential function of the traditional Balinese walls as traffic noise barriers in some collector and arterial roads of Denpasar, the capital and biggest city of Bali. Using indirect measurement method, this paper investigated the insertion loss of three types of traditional walls as traffic noise barriers. The noise was measured on the outside and inside locations of Balinese compounds as “after noise levels” and in equivalent sites as “before noise level.” The data were taken in the morning, at noon, and in the afternoon. This paper stated that there is a significant reduction of noise level because of the presence of the traditional walls at the front of the Balinese compound. The presence of natural rock and brick walls produced noise reduction, respectively 11.93±2.77 dBA and 11.71±3.11 dBA, while the concrete block produced the highest noise reduction (16.99±5.48 dBA). Keyword head: The traditional wall, barrier, noise level reduction, transportation.