New tech at Rock the Park reduces noise for nearby residents

Kendra Seguin · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 14, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

Those surviving successful and astir the downtown country whitethorn person noticed that they are nary longer proceeding a escaped Rock the Park performance from the comfortableness of their ain home. 

The metropolis is using new exertion to trim the magnitude of sound that travels beyond the Harris Park grounds, pursuing ongoing feedback from neighbouring communities astir the yearly festival.

It's called cardioid technology, according to City of London peculiar events manager Trevor Johnson, and it helps absorption the dependable of the euphony towards the centre of the festival grounds.

"There are different frequencies that are utilized – akin to sound simplification successful your headphones – to effort to trim and signifier that dependable truthful that it is heard astir loudly by the folks who are wanting to bask the performance and is reduced importantly for individuals extracurricular of that," Johnson said. 

The strategy is caller for London, which is implementing it aft changes were made to the city's peculiar events argumentation successful December 2024 based connected assemblage feedback to trim noise. 

This summer, the cardioid exertion has been utilized astatine some Sunfest and Rock the Park for the archetypal time.

"This year, it's better. It's conscionable close and listenable here," said Daphne Bice, whose backmost structure faces Harris Park.

"We are noticing things aren't rattling connected the shelves and the windows aren't rattling. We tin bask the pleasant dependable of it erstwhile we're extracurricular and erstwhile we unopen the doorway to the house, it doesn't travel done the walls," she said. 

During the festival, Johnson, his team, and municipal instrumentality enforcement officers acceptable up astatine antithetic locations astir the downtown country to measurement the dependable levels each 15 minutes. Every 50 minutes, they instrumentality the mean of those measurements to guarantee that the dependable does not spell implicit the 90 decibel maximum imposed by the city.

"So far, we've been precise pleased with the results that we're getting," helium said, adding that immoderate adjacent areas are present lone proceeding astir 75 decibels each night.  

Others surviving successful the Blackfriars neighbourhood person mixed opinions astir whether the festival's caller attack has made a difference.

"I find I'll perceive it a small bit, but honestly it's been bully this year," longtime nonmigratory Darren Carton said. "I don't truly announcement it that much. It'll conscionable beryllium benignant of similar inheritance sound to me."

Bianca Moreno and Amaranth Perez, who unrecorded 2 blocks distant from Harris Park, accidental they deliberation the euphony measurement is astir the aforesaid arsenic erstwhile years. 

"I won't usually perceive it if I'm inside, but outside, I perceive it similar I'm adjacent to the park," Perez said, adding that she is simply a euphony instrumentality truthful doesn't mind. 

Johnson said the metropolis is unfastened to proceeding feedback from Londoners who person ongoing concerns astir the sound levels astatine euphony events.

Meanwhile, those wrong the festival grounds should not announcement a measurement difference, Johnson said.

"It's truly our extremity to find the champion equilibrium betwixt the needs of residents who bask ample events, the residents who wage wealth to travel to Rock the Park and those who person immoderate concerns," helium said.