Pickleball noise raises health concerns for neighbors living near courts

Kathleen Romito – Kathleen@lfprograms.org

Quiet Communities, Scientific Advisory Board, The Robert and Nalini Lasiewicz Foundation, BOISE, ID, 83703-1000, United States

Daniel Fink – DJFink@thequietcoalition.org
Program Chair, The Quiet Coalition
A program of Quiet Communities, Inc.
60 Thoreau Street Suite 261
Concord, MA 01742

Popular version of 4aPP1 – Pickleball noise – A qualitative description of the psychological and physiological effects on nearby residents
Presented at the 188th ASA Meeting
Read the abstract at https://eppro01.ativ.me/appinfo.php?page=Session&project=ASAICA25&id=3868452&server=eppro01.ativ.me

–The research described in this Acoustics Lay Language Paper may not have yet been peer reviewed–

New research shows that pickleball noise appears to raise major health concerns for residents living near courts. Pickleball is a racquet sport like tennis, but is played on smaller courts with hard wood or fiberglass paddles and hard plastic balls similar to whiffle balls. Instead of the softer “ping” heard during tennis, pickleball play makes a piercing “pop” sound. Pickleball started increasing in popularity during Covid, and many residents living near courts have now had several years of daily exposure to the popping noise.

How does pickleball noise affect the neighbors? Image source: Nicholas Klein, Istock photo 1746673904, 2023

Our study found that disrupted sleep, cardiac, and neurologic issues were the most common self-reported physical symptoms from nearby neighbors as shown in Figure 1. Hearing phantom pops appears to be a new type of phenomenon that can’t be completely explained yet, but may represent changes in brain processing systems.

Figure 1: Self-reported physical symptoms from pickleball noise exposure.

Self-reported psychological symptoms included mental health problems, mentions of trauma, and “red flag” complaints including severe distress, mention of torture, and suicidal thoughts as shown in Figure 2. An example of a comment that was classified as “severe distress” is: “No one would choose to live this way. It is physically and emotionally debilitating”.

Figure 2: Self-reported psychological symptoms from pickleball noise exposure.

Why do those living near pickleball courts feel this way?

The piercing “pop” comes from a sudden, loud burst of sound called impulse noise. Impulse noise is characterized by short duration with a sharp rise and decrease, as shown below in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Pickleball noise sound pressure trace. Image courtesy of Lance Willis, Spenderian and Willis, Tucson, AZ.

Listen to this audio below to hear the sound generated by 4 pickleball courts.

Sound from 4 pickleball courts.

An acoustic study of one neighbor’s experience found up to 2800 pickleball pops per hour, for a total of 21,208 pops in one day as shown in Figure 4. That’s a lot of disruptive impulse noise to endure. And to make it even worse, the frequency of the “popping” sound (about 1200 Hertz) is the same as back up alarms for vehicles.

Figure 4: One day, 4 courts, hourly distribution of 21,208 total pops. Image courtesy of Noise Net Operations US, Inc.

It’s not unusual for those living near pickleball courts to be exposed to this repetitive impulse noise more than 90 hours/week. That might be more than 100,000 pickleball pops a week! Figure 5 demonstrates a day for busy courts open from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m.

Figure 5: A typical day of pickleball noise exposure for a neighbor near busy courts.

While some workplace studies have examined impulse noise and hearing loss, our study is the first to explore its health effects on the general public. Long-term exposure to impulse noise wasn’t a public concern until pickleball courts were built near homes. In some cases, the popping is even heard inside people’s homes.

We used a research method called content analysis to analyze public comments in news reports, legal filings and social media, spotting early trends by grouping and counting similar comments. While not definitive, this method helps identify problems, guide research, and spark discussion.

Local noise ordinances often focus on average sound levels (decibels) and don’t regulate repetitive impulse noise like pickleball. Unfortunately, most noise studies don’t consider all the factors that affect how people actually perceive such noise, especially the repetitive impulse noise hours a day from pickleball play. As pickleball noise expert and referee Bob Unetich told NPR in 2023, “You can’t take pop, pop, pop for 12 hours a day every day and remain sane.”

We need more research on how long-term impulse noise affects the health of people living near pickleball courts. Future studies could look at what makes pickleball noise unique, how this kind of noise impacts people’s minds and bodies, how far courts should be from homes, and how well different noise-reducing methods work.

So far, we aren’t aware of any courts within 100 feet of homes that have been successfully quieted. Until more is known, we recommend that courts not be placed within 100 feet of homes and that courts within 1,000 feet of homes receive close attention. Sound evaluations by engineers should look at more than just how loud the sound is. All the factors that affect how humans perceive sound should be considered.

There is no doubt that pickleball is lots of fun for those who play, but it raises major health concerns for those living near the courts.