By: Emily Wang

Thwack. Pop. Whack.These noises are driving neighborhoods and communities all around the United States crazy. Sports can produce all kinds of unpleasant noises: referees’ whistles, rancorous boos, vuvuzelas. But the most disruptive sound in the entire athletic ecosystem right now may be the pop-pop-pop radiating from America’s rapidly multiplying pickleball courts: “It’s a torture technique,” said Clint Ellis, 37, who lives across the street from a private club in York, Maine.

“Living here is hell,” said Debbie Nagle, 67, whose community in Scottsdale, Arizona, installed courts a few years ago. Modern society is inherently inharmonious—think of children shouting, dogs barking, lawn mowers roaring… So, what makes the sound of pickleball, specifically, so hard to tolerate?

For answers, many have turned to Bob Unetich, an avid pickleball player, who became one of the uppermost authorities on silencing the noise after starting a consulting firm called Pickleball Sound Mitigation.

Unetich said that pickleball noises from 100 feet can reach up to 70 dBA (a measure of decibels), similar to some vacuum cleaners, while everyday background noise outside typically tops off at a “somewhat annoying 55.” But decibels alone are useful for portraying the sheer magnitude of annoyance. There are two factors—the high pitch of a hard paddle slamming a plastic ball and the erratic, often frantic rhythm of the smacks. These contribute to its uncanny ability to drive bystanders crazy: “It creates vibrations in a range that can be extremely annoying to humans,” Unetich said.