Loudspeakers on guided tours: rules, alternatives

Can you use a loudspeaker or megaphone on a guided tour? It depends on the destination. Several cities limit amplification and group size, but there is no general European ban. A belt amplifier may also be covered: what it does matters more than its name.

Before departure, check three things: how many people you can take, which audio systems the venue permits and which exceptions apply. Here you will find examples by destination and an explanation of why more volume does not always make a guide easier to understand.

An alternative is to deliver speech through each visitor’s earphones, using radioguides or a tour guide system app that replaces a voice amplifier that meets local requirements. Below we compare those options and explain how to start trying Echoris.

What the rules say

These examples show the pattern, but they do not replace checking the applicable text:

• ◆Alhambra and Generalife. The Order of 29 May 2023 requires groups from the general sales channel, accompanied by an accredited guide and exceeding six people, to use an individual listening system for a discreet visit. It provides for people unable to use it. Group access is limited to 30 people; children under three do not count towards that limit.
• ◆Venice. Since 1 August 2024, municipal rules limit accompanied groups to 25 visitors in the historic centre and on Murano, Burano and Torcello, excluding the guide and with the exceptions set out in the rules. Loudspeakers liable to cause confusion or disturbance are also prohibited.
• ◆Donostia / San Sebastián. The city has regulated tourist activity with groups of up to 25 visitors, excluding the guide, and a ban on sound amplification equipment. The official notice reports penalties of €750–€1,500 for non-compliance; check the rules applicable to the visit.
• ◆Girona. Since 28 May 2025, groups are limited to 25 people plus the guide, or 30 plus the guide for school groups. Megaphones, loudspeakers and other devices that raise the sound of the guide's explanations are prohibited, while radioguides are permitted.
• ◆Palma. Article 50 bis of its Civic Coexistence Ordinance limits guided groups to 35 people including the guide and does not permit loudspeakers or megaphones; it recommends audio guides. For bicycle or personal-mobility-vehicle tours the maximum is four people including the guide. The text also requires guides to be identifiable and to have their authorisation available.
• ◆Toledo. Article 8 bans loudspeakers and megaphones. Individual audio is required above 30 people or after 23:00, with an exception for primary and compulsory-secondary school groups under 16. Article 7 also limits groups to 30 including the guide on streets in annex I, unless exceptionally authorised. Headphones do not override that limit.

The list is not an automatic approval for any one system. A radioguide may be permitted in one city and subject to different conditions in another.

Alhambra: when individual audio is required

The Order of 29 May 2023 replaced the 2020 Resolution. Consult that order when planning a visit rather than relying only on the historical 2016 reference.

Its group-access rule is clear: when a group from the general sales channel, accompanied by an accredited guide, exceeds six people, it must enter with a hearing system that allows a discreet visit. The rule itself allows exceptions for people who cannot use one and permits the Patronato to apply the requirement to other groups when the quality of the visit warrants it. Group access is capped at 30 people.

The stated reason concerns conservation and an orderly visit. That rule for one monument should not be turned into a general obligation for every city, but it does show why individual audio appears as a regulatory solution.

Hearing louder is not understanding better

To see why a radioguide and a loudspeaker behave differently, separate three variables: the guide's voice, ambient noise and distance.

The signal-to-noise ratio is, in simplified terms, the signal level minus the noise level. If the voice reaches the listener at 70 dB and ambient noise is 55 dB, the ratio is +15 dB. If noise rises to 65 with the voice unchanged, it falls to +5 dB. If voice and noise arrive at the same level, the ratio is 0 dB.

The relationship between noise and how easily speech is understood is documented. Bradley and Sato found a significant relationship in classrooms, and ANSI/ASA S12.60 works with criteria designed for intelligibility in educational spaces.

A tourist square is not a classroom: that reference is not a binding limit for a tour. The physical principle still applies: the less the voice stands above the noise reaching the listener, the harder it is to understand.

This example fixes the voice at 70 dB at the visitor's ear. It is arithmetic, not a measurement of a real tour:

The practical point is simple: the situation can worsen even if the guide has not lowered their voice. The noise around them only has to rise.

Distance adds another problem

If noise stays constant and the distance between guide and visitor changes, the received level changes too. In a free field, a point source loses roughly 6 dB every time distance doubles. This is the acoustic consequence of the inverse square law.

A street is not a perfect free field: façades, reflections, obstacles and directionality all matter. As an approximation, the model explains the phenomenon. At eight metres, direct level is about 12 dB lower than at two metres.

Picture Ana 2 metres from the guide and Luis 8 metres away. There are roughly 12 dB between them. If the guide turns the volume up by 5 dB, both receive 5 dB more and the gap remains 12 dB. Amplification raises the absolute level, but it does not change the geometry. The front row may receive an excessive level, the back row may remain at a disadvantage, and sound projected beyond the group grows in the same proportion.

Why it collides with public space

For a distant listener to hear a loudspeaker better, more acoustic energy has to be sent into the space. That energy also reaches terraces, homes, shops, pedestrians and nearby groups. The neighbour's problem and the back row's problem are the same physical phenomenon seen from different positions.

Rules try to resolve the conflict by separating the receiver from shared space. Individual audio does not remove street noise, but it stops using the whole square as the voice's distribution channel.

The Lombard effect: noise that generates more noise

In a noisy environment we tend to change our voice and, among other things, raise its level. This is the Lombard effect. A study by Södersten, Granqvist, Hammarberg and Szabo found that preschool teachers spoke louder in their working environment; the study did not examine guided tours, and its figures should not be transferred directly to a guide.

The useful mechanism is this: more noise around us can produce more vocal effort. In a square with several groups, one system that raises perceived noise may contribute to other groups raising their voices too. This does not mean every square behaves that way or allow an exact figure without measurement, but it explains why environmental amplification can feed the problem it is trying to solve.

Loudspeakers or earphones: what changes for visitors

A loudspeaker tries to carry the source further; individual audio brings the playback closer to the listener.

With a belt amplifier the acoustic source is still next to the guide. What each person receives depends on distance, obstacles, speaker direction, reflections and noise. A belt pack does reduce the guide's vocal effort, which is a real benefit, but it does not change the geometry.

With an individual system, the voice travels electronically to the visitor's device and is reproduced close to their ear. Each person can set their own volume, and someone farther away can receive a similar signal to someone nearby. Open headphones still let outside noise in, volume still matters and the connection can fail; acoustics does not disappear, but the signal no longer has to physically cross the whole square.

Group size changes the operation too

Capacity restrictions can matter as much as sound rules: Palma sets 35 people including the guide; Girona, 25 plus the guide; Donostia, 25 excluding the guide; Venice, 25 visitors excluding the guide and with exceptions; and the Alhambra, 30 per group. Toledo applies limits and conditions in the areas covered by its ordinance.

If a departure of 40 visitors has to become two groups, there are staffing, timing and equipment decisions. With conventional radioguides, enough transmitters and receivers are needed for each simultaneous group. If the receiver is the visitor's phone, splitting the group does not require duplicating a physical inventory, although compatibility, battery, headphones and connection still need checking.

Technology does not remove the capacity limit. It may make adapting to it easier.

Radioguides: good acoustics, real logistics

The traditional radioguide uses a transmitter for the guide and an individual receiver for each visitor. Acoustically it works: each person receives the signal and adjusts the volume.

The operation has work attached: transport the equipment, charge it, distribute it, explain it, collect it, check that it came back, clean the earphones and replace anything that fails. Inventory must also cover the largest group. This is not impossible logistics, but it is part of the cost and time of every tour.

The fact that many people carry a smartphone makes it possible to separate individual audio from a receiver supplied by the guide. It does not mean that everyone has a compatible phone, enough battery, headphones or a suitable setup.

Echoris: the visitor's phone as receiver

Echoris is intended to address that problem: the guide broadcasts live from their phone and visitors join from theirs, using their own headphones and volume. This reduces the need to distribute and collect dedicated receivers, but the connection still has to work and the group still needs suitable devices.

The system's physical capacity and compatibility are not yet certified for general professional use or every large-scale scenario. Technology does not replace checking local rules, preparing support or testing in advance. If headphones are advisable, say so at booking and reserve a connection moment at the start.

To choose equipment, compare the costs and tasks involved in radioguides and phones. If you plan to buy or rent receivers, use the tour guide system selection checklist.

Penalties and responsibility

There is no single fine across destinations. In Palma, breaching the walking-group rule in article 50 bis.1 is a minor infringement; other conduct is treated separately. Article 51 assigns responsibility to the guide unless there is a contracting company, in which case it is responsible. Toledo article 8.5 identifies the person responsible for the group. Check the applicable rule before assuming that either the guide or the agency is always liable.

What to check before a tour

Before working with a group, review the current municipal text, geographical scope, capacity, time restrictions and permitted audio systems.

• ◆Resolve individual audio before you need it and test the exact phone, headphones and connection combination.
• ◆Tell visitors at booking if they need headphones, battery or an app.
• ◆Keep any credential required by the destination visible.
• ◆Build connection time into the normal tour flow.
• ◆Prepare an alternative for anyone without a compatible device or unable to use headphones.
• ◆Do not confuse capacity, amplification in public space and how each visitor receives the audio. Technology only solves the third.

Try individual audio on your route

To assess phones as receivers, start with two compatible phones running Echoris and a pair of earphones. Use one as the guide and the other as a visitor to check joining, listening and what happens when you move.

Then extend the trial to your intended group, check local rules and prepare an alternative for anyone unable to use their phone. This helps you decide whether it suits your tour; it does not allow a larger group than permitted or establish compliance with every ordinance.

Prepare an Echoris trial with two phones.

Sources

Regulation and authorities:

• ◆Junta de Andalucía — Order of 29 May 2023, BOJA issue 121/52, Alhambra and Generalife visiting rules.
• ◆Girona City Council — group limits and the ban on sound amplification devices, 28 May 2025.
• ◆Comune di Venezia — regolamentazione dei gruppi turistici accompagnati, applicable since 1 August 2024.
• ◆Palma City Council — Civic Coexistence Ordinance, article 50 bis, BOIB issue 66 of 2025.
• ◆Toledo City Council — Official Provincial Gazette of Toledo, issue 211 of 4 November 2025.
• ◆Donostia / San Sebastián — regulation and monitoring of tourist groups.

Acoustics and intelligibility:

• ◆Bradley, J. S. and Sato, H. — The intelligibility of speech in elementary school classrooms, *Journal of the Acoustical Society of America*, 2008.
• ◆Södersten, M. et al. — Vocal behavior and vocal loading factors for preschool teachers, *Journal of Voice*, 2002.
• ◆Acoustical Society of America / ANSI — ANSI/ASA S12.60 series on educational spaces.