If you are in San Diego Clausen Nursery in Vista has high quality fruit trees. Very nice guy who very helpful. Tell him where you live and he will tell what will grow well in that area.
Also trees or shrubs don’t block sound. You need a solid structure for this. This is why you see glass fencing on homes next to freeways.
Regarding pepper trees, over time the berries and leaves mess up the soil under the tree so turf and finicky shrubs don’t do well. We had a home with a very old tree that looked way cool and didn’t want to cut it down.
I replaced the soil under the tree about 6-8″ down with new dirt and it helped for a few years. I would also lace the tree ( have it done ) every 2-3 years which really made it look fantastic and not like a 50foot tall bush!
