House Beautiful

The sport has exploded in popularity in the last four years, coinciding with a pandemic-related need to socialize outdoors. The fact that it’s easy to learn—even if you’re not particularly athletic or happen to be older—helped it take off, though there are plenty of younger devotees, too. But as passion for the sport spread, so did frustration over the environmental acoustics. A new era of noise nuisance had arrived.

For the record, pickleball has been shown to be louder than similar sports. Researchers have demonstrated that the sound of a paddle hitting one of those sturdy wiffleball-like balls can be more than 25 decibels louder than a racket hitting a tennis ball.

Others cited concerns about property values being impacted by pickleball court proximity. According to a piece in REALTOR® Magazine, which is published by the National Association of REALTORS®, the impact of a nearby pickleball court on home sales is mixed and contingent on various factors, from on-the-ground sound issues to affinity for the sport itself.

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