Hooligan chants silenced by delayed echoes: Soccer hooligans could be silenced by a new sound system that neutralises chanting with a carefully timed echo.
Stadiums could use the technique to defuse abusive or racist chants, say the Dutch researchers behind it. The echoes trip up efforts to synchronise a chant, neutralising an unwelcome message without drowning out the overall roar of a crowd. [...]
No soccer clubs have yet expressed an interest in the technology and van Wijngaarden says any real implementation would need to be closely monitored. "If you frustrate an audience by making it impossible to chant, you need to be very careful how you channel their frustration," he says. "If they stop chanting but start rioting out of frustration, then you're worse off."
