There have been some conversations about the sound of tennis versus pickleball - so my engineer husband has come out of the woodwork and wants me to post some basic facts about sound.
- A game of tennis averages only 40 decibals.
- A game of pickleball can reach up to 70 decibals of higher frequency, impulsive sound.
Does 40 - 70 mean it's less than twice as loud? Nope. The decibal scale is logarithmic, meaning an increase of 10 dB represents a sound that is 10 times more intense. So how much louder is 70 dB as compared to 40 dB? 1,000 TIMES LOUDER. (Each 10 dB increase multiplied x 10 x 10).
The image for this article comes from www.centennialco.gov/Government/City-Projects-and-Initiatives/Pickleball when on September 19, 2023 the Centennial (Colorado) City Council voted unanimously to approve Ordinance No. 2023-O-10 creating regulations for Outdoor Pickleball Courts within the City based on an impact assessment from Spendiarian & Willis Acoustics & Noise Control LLC. You can read it here.
Look at the last bullet point of that regulation summary: 'can create no more than 47 decibals at the nearest residential property line.'
Here are some common sounds and their decibals.
- 55-70 Dishwasher
- 60 Sewing Machine
- 60-85 Vacuum Cleaner
- 60-95 Hair Dryer
- 65-80 Alarm Clock
- 65-95 Power Lawn Mower
- 70 Freeway Traffic
- 70-80 Coffee Grinder
Do you want someone running a lawn mower outside your window every day, all day long? On the day the lawn maintenance company comes, we close the doors to our outdoor spaces and lose the enjoyment of them. It's difficult to attend a meeting. It's hard to concentrate on a book. But it's a fleeting annoyance that we've adjusted our lives to accommodate a necessary task.
How about frequency? The frequency of pickleball is the same as that of a garbage truck in reverse. Why did garbage trucks choose that frequency? Because it's annoying and impossible to ignore. How long do you want to be in the area of a reversing garbage truck?
Impulse noise is a category of (acoustic) noise that includes unwanted, sharp sounds (like clicks and pops). Think about when a microphone causes feedback - and everybody winces. A pickleball court can create 900 'PWOCK' sounds per hour. They are difficult to ignore, causing disruption to activities of concentration, reading a book, painting, active listening to a meeting, participating in a video conference call or just taking a nap.
The impulsive sound of a plastic ball and a covered paddle is repeated hundreds of times an hour during a game. It's an auditory glory of making a solid hit. It's also created a 'maelstrom of neighborhood squabbles, lawsuits and court closures'.
Changing equipment to foam balls isn't pickleball. My husband loves pickleball. In his opinion that is a non-starter. It won't be regulation. Besides requiring constant staffing to enforce it, it just won't be pickleball without the equipment.
Let's keep asking questions and get a professional impact assessment to answer them BEFORE assigning reserves in the 2025 budget.