How great is the effect of trees on noise pollution?
As you figured out "normal" trees do not have an effect on noise pollution.
However roads with trees have ( a little ).
Sorry for the bad picture but you can still see Nr. 3 and 6 from the left.
- Report from users.
- Feature request on Reddit stating that this behaviour (normal trees reduce noise pollution) should be added to the game.
Noise pollution is created by traffic, industrial and commercial zones and tourist attractions such as the unique buildings. Smaller roads create less noise pollution and roads with decorative trees create less noise pollution than their tree-less counterparts.
This is a quote from the developers forums, taken from the dev diary. They don't say trees wouldn't help at all, however, they don't say that they would help too.
Considering all these sources, I think that trees don't help to reduce noise pollution. I just tested it myself: Trees didn't help. I don't know why the Wiki says it would be possible although a lot of people say it clearly isn't.