Sound barriers have been widely adopted and installed to reduce noise levels at locations adjacent to Shinkansen tracks. A number of different types of sound barriers with specific configurational features have been developed, but a quantitative evaluation of their advantages has yet to be clarified. In this paper, scale-model experiments were conducted on sound barrier configurations, the positioning of sound-absorbing materials, and a new type sound barrier that was fitted with an acoustic tube array on its upper surface. Sound barriers with effective configurations (Y-shaped sound barriers with absorbing materials and acoustic tube arrays) were proposed based on the experimental results. Furthermore, the authors verified the effectiveness of the proposed barriers by means of field tests with running Shinkansen vehicles.