Pickleball Courts Sound Test
Over the past 2 weeks 3600 sound metrics were recorded. These were collected between 8:30 - 9:15 am over 3 days without and 3 days with the fence black covers in place. The times chosen are prime time play when most courts are in full use. That is documented by SignUp Genius reservations and other 3 courts using open play. The players were not aware of testing. Courts being used were with 4 players per court. Data was collected at 10 sites around the Pickleball courts. What follows is a summary of this data.
As an introduction to sound testing I have taken basic Information from Bob Unitech’s Pickleball Sound Level Tutorial: Bob is a registered engineer living in Bonita Springs, Fl.
Sound has 2 main components. Pitch - measured in Hertz (Hz) Loudness - measured in decibels (dBa)
Human ears perceive sound to be twice as loud with an increase of 10 decibels.
At the same loudness levels higher pitch sounds are more noticeable to the human ear.
0 dBa The softest sound a person can hear with normal hearing
10 dBa normal breathing
20 dBa whispering at 5 feet
30 dBa soft whisper
40 dBa quiet residential area on a calm day
50 dBa steady rainfall
60 dBa normal conversation
70 dBa freeway Traffic
85 dBa noisy Restaurant
90 dBa shouted Conversation
100 dBa nearby snowmobile
110 dBa shouting into an ear
120 dBa nearby thunder
Pickleball sounds are typically about 70 dBa at about 100 feet away.
Doubling the distance drops sound levels by 6 decibels in open areas and even more when there are obstructions to sound propagation like hills and shrubs.
If a sound barrier and quieter balls and paddles are used, we soon approach the typical sound level of average neighborhoods, under 50 dBa. To do more is difficult since sound will travel over a sound barrier.
Using a Sper Scientific Sound Meter #850019 decibal (dBa) readings were recorded at each of the meter spots seen in the attached map below. 3 days with and 3 days without the black fence padded material on similar days, time, wind, humidity, etc. This meter measures and records loudness (dBa) and reports out minimum, maximum and averages for each setting.
The charts below are a visual representation of key observations. These can be described as…
1. Overall there seems to be very little difference with or without the black covers.
2. The actual range produced by VeronaWalk pickleball is at least 10 dBa’s (half as loud) lower than unrestricted Pickleball. This is probably due to our strict ball and paddle rules along with cooperation from our players.
3. Autos, planes, women’s voices, birds, etc within VeronaWalk are much louder than the actual noises from Pickleball.
4. At court side it is difficult to produce levels above 60 dBa’s and this reduces with distance.
5. Typically VeronaWalk Pickleball produces the average of sounds at the level of 51 dBa’s.
6. Looking at the 10 sites there are conflicting results. Some show a slight increase in loudness with black covers while others show a decrease with black covers. The surprise is that it got slightly louder on the Sorrento side of the courts. Since the pads are reflective on both sides they may be reflecting street sounds back towards Sorrento (points 1,2,8,9) and also cutting off the street sounds going towards the courts (points 5,6,7)Details are posted below.
At this time it appears that a complete enclosure of the Pickleball courts would provide minimal relief to the people looking for silence. In fact, silence will never happen without a complete building enclosure. We can still make additional improvements with landscape and new technologies in paddles, balls, etc.
All data can be seen in the Pickleball Sound Summary
This is just a first look at where we stand. More work will be done to try to minimize both the noise pollution and visual pollution in our community.
Comments are welcomed!
