Medford, OR Noise Ordinances: Amplified Music & Outdoor Sound (2026)

225 of the Medford Municipal Code prohibits making, continuing, causing, or permitting "any noise disturbance," and lists specific violations without limiting the ordinance to only those examples. Two subsections directly govern amplified sound: subsection (1)(b) bars use of sound producing or reproducing equipment that is plainly audible within a dwelling unit that isn't the source of the sound, or use of such equipment on public property at all. Subsection (1)(c) separately bars use of sound equipment on a public right-of-way so that it is plainly audible 50 feet or more from the source.

The City Manager or a designee may grant an exemption from either the dwelling-audibility rule or the 50-foot right-of-way rule to allow reasonable use of public property or right-of-way to broadcast music or speech, giving event organizers a path to lawfully amplify sound downtown. The code defines "plainly audible" in subsection (3)(a) as any sound a reasonable person of ordinary sensitivity can hear with unaided hearing, including understandable words, comprehensible musical rhythms, or vocal sounds other than words, an objective standard that doesn't require a decibel meter to enforce.

The Council added language in subsection (2) stating the ordinance is drafted content-neutrally to avoid infringing free-expression rights under the Oregon and federal constitutions, since regulating amplified sound necessarily touches speech and music.