Harrisburg, PA Noise Ordinances: Amplified Music & Outdoor Sound (2026)

Section 3-343.2(B)(3) of the Harrisburg Codified Ordinances covers loudspeakers and amplifiers upon public streets. It reaches use or operation of, or permitting the use or operation of, any radio, CD player, television set, musical instrument, stereo (phonograph), loudspeaker, sound amplifier, or other machine or device designed or intended to produce or reproduce sound. The trigger is plain audibility upon the public streets at 50 feet from the source within a residential area or a nonresidential area, or 75 feet within the Liquor Control Board exempted area.

Chapter 3-343 defines those areas. A residential area is any area within a residential zone under Chapter 7-309, Residence Zones; the nonresidential area is all areas of the City excluding residential areas and the exempted area; the exempted area is the part of the City approved by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and exempted from enforcement of Liquor Control Regulation 5.32(a) regarding amplified music. Public street includes public sidewalks, streets and public parks, but not buildings. Under § 3-343.2(A), making, continuing or causing a noise disturbance within the City is itself a violation, and a noise disturbance covers any sound that endangers or injures the safety or health of humans or animals, annoys or disturbs a reasonable person of normal sensitivities, or endangers or injures personal or real property.

Section 3-343.3 exempts any sound that is an official part of an activity or event licensed or permitted by the City, a public address or amplification system used at an athletic event, and a bell or chime used in conjunction with religious worship. Separately, § 3-341.3 declares a public nuisance and prohibits the operation for advertising purposes along, upon or over any public highway of any radio, amplifier, loudspeaker or other sound-producing device, including sound trucks.