Decreasing Pickleball Noise

Overview

Pickleball is a rapidly growing sport, but there have been many complaints about games being too loud. The average noise level from a pickleball game is 70 decibels when measured at 100 feet away from the court. While this is not damaging, it adds noise to the environment, which annoys nearby communities and prevents the expansion of the sport. Some communities have said that “Because the noise is so bad, it ruins the quality of our life.” The loudness of the ball can also distract the players, hurting their gameplay. In addition, any noise over 85 decibels can be hazardous when exposed to it for a long period of time, so making the game quieter would be helpful to the players as well. The goal of this project was to change the ball so it was not as loud, while still keeping the gameplay the same, as any intended users would not want to have to change their gameplay. I made 19 prototypes (not counting the control ball) using reasoning from different hypotheses and different materials which I thought would work. I found 15 designs that were quieter than the original ball, and one of them also bounced as well as the original ball. This new ball design could be a peaceful compromise between pickleball players and their communities.

Awards (1)

• Category Award: 1

Competition history

• CSEF 2023 Applied Mechanics & Structures · Entry J0303

Resources

• CSEF published award list ↗
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• CSEF public showcase (Internet Archive capture) ↗

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