Meta-acoustic barriers (MABs) that are inspired by acoustic metamaterials (AM) offer opportunities to defy mass law-driven sound transmission loss (TL) performance that is characteristic of conventional acoustic barriers. In this analytical parametric study, the TL behavior of MABs that incorporate various local oscillator configurations are analyzed using an effective-mass modeling approach. Resonant, damped and inertant local oscillator configurations and combinations thereof that result in negative and complex effective-mass for the meta-acoustic barrier are considered. The influence of the local configuration’s orientation, oblique incidence and the presence of multiple oscillator types are examined using nondimensionalized metrics and compared to the performance of static mass and volume-equivalent limp mass and double wall barriers. It is shown that due to their anomalous effective-mass, such barriers display tunable TL bandwidths exceeding that of mass-equivalent conventional barriers indicating new device implications. The effective-mass modeling approach can easily be adapted to account for the presence of different dynamic features within various types of inclusions considered and is thus an efficient tool to evaluate meta-acoustic barrier designs. Inasmuch as these meta-acoustic barrier structures can be realized using recent advances in additive and hybrid manufacturing techniques, opportunities exist to create lightweight barriers for tonal and broadband acoustic applications.