Our Stories
Residents across North America are reporting very similar experiences.
This is a small sample of comments by people living near pickleball courts, comments collected from our Facebook Group and media reports.
If you are currently suffering from symptoms related to chronic exposure to pickleball noise, some of this information may be upsetting to read. Be sure to reach out to family, friends, a therapist, and/or your doctor for support.
The Pickleball Noise Relief Facebook group is closely administered, another safe place to get support.
Neighbors aren't the only ones noticing the impact. Some pickleball players are showing concern as well.
“I wouldn't want to live next to a pickleball court. We pickleball players have to resist being entitled and understand the sounds of pickleball are not music to everyone's ears. This is also a cautionary tale to local planning authorities to consider the neighbours before approving installation of pickleball courts.”
"One neighbor has moved, another one is considering."
“We watched as our local playground was taken over by entitled people from outside our community who don't care about kids, only about gentrifying the playground for their own benefit.”
“I live across the street from a court and its very loud and I get no break from it.”
“I have a child with autism spectrum disorder, PTSD and separation anxiety. Since courts opened, his behaviors with the loud noises are more problematic, with increased hitting himself, headbutting me, banging head on ground when is gets dysregulated by the noises.”
"We put the house up for sale. That was the only option."
"When we moved here we were aware there are tennis courts. However pickle ball wasn’t a thing then. Now it drives me bat sh*t crazy. 6:40 am - 11:30PM. To top it all off I can’t keep the tennis people or the pickleball people out of my yard chasing balls."
“Phantom noises wake me up from a deep sleep, my heart jumps when I hear certain POP sounds.”
"My whole body is stressed from this…Now as the morning gets near i toss and turn just waiting for that first jarring pop that has my heart racing, blood pressure rising and my tired body forced to get up before i want to. it’s like a pistol going off next to my ear."
"I can't tell you how many times we are told to move...it's nuts!!"
"Have just been following your situation. Am very pleased the township has finally decided to move the courts."
“The noise is unbearable. How could our city betray us like this?”
“The harsh and disturbing noises from pickleball play enters my home 11 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year. This has negatively impacted my physical, mental and emotional health. I have been quite ill and I have lost 35 - 45 lbs due to the stress and anxiety and I have recently been hospitalized for 2 weeks due to cardiac problems and high blood pressure.”
"...suffer from many symptoms, such as inability to concentrate, stress and anxiety."
“I am literally in tears right now - the noise has me very stressed and depressed.“
"Chinese water torture is what I call it."
“I cannot live a normal life.. For me, it’s hell…headaches, mental distress, depression, anxiety and increased gastrointestinal issues.”
“For an activity that professes to bring people together it sure seems to be tearing communities apart :( “
“The noise is unbearable. It took 7 years for the city I live in to provide the most minimal support to residents. I had to spend my evenings going to city council meetings. Neighbors have moved. I hear it in my sleep. These morons jump locked fences to play with their balls.”
“At my parents' house in Florida, pickleball courts a half mile away can be clearly heard across the bay if the wind is blowing right.”
It’s disturbing people’s peace and enjoyment of their homes. I sit on a township parks board in Pennsylvania and I’m interested in reading the opinions and learning about the different options for the surrounding neighborhoods. We have had only one group complain but I expect that number will increase.
"I am facing an HOA who it trying to convert the tennis courts 50 feet behind my home to pickleball courts. The 2-4 buildings adjacent to the courts are directly affected, but the HOA president appears to have already made the decision w some neighbors."
"We are in a neighborhood of 2500 homes with 6 pickleball courts within 50-80 feet of several homes. The noise is constant day in and day out. We have retained an attorney to try to remove the courts. It's like slow mental torture!!!!!"
“There are a few people in my community who have stopped using the courts because they know how much pain we suffer from the noise ten feet from our homes.”
“I can hear the ball hits two blocks away.”
Pickleball is NOISY, and I play! Please stop insulting the folks who do not want a pb court next to them and work to find an agreeable solution to this problem. PB is not the be all, end all sport. I live in a very OLD neighborhood who recently transformed an old city park, very quiet, into 48 PB courts!!!!! How do you think the neighbors feel??????
Our community banned pb in 2022. It was a mini tennis court originally, then they changed it to pb without community input. Neighbors grew to hate the noise and players eventually. Threatened to sue hoa and board members.
"This dangerous involuntary noise torture experiment ran it’s full course. Now please stop it."
"Our little town in Georgia is well on its way to wanting to add 12 Pickleball courts within 200 feet of my property. Apparently this has been in the works for the last two years, but we as property owners just found out about this an only few weeks ago. It’s making news headlines, but I would like to get attorney recommendations."