HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 4A - Addendum - RE_ Addressing Pickleball Noise & Health Impacts - Commission Meeting 6_10_25
The Lasiewicz Foundation, a California non-profit, has launched a noise control project after
researching resident complaints about the sound produced by the game of outdoor pickleball. We
advocate research on the physical and mental impacts of exposure to impulsive noise. In addition,
we provide information to complainants, regulators, HOAs and community Boards for more effective
planning standards and zoning restrictions.
Health Concerns from Nearby Residents-Oct 26, 2024
Each comment comes from a different individual, from locations across North America.
All information has been de-identified for privacy.
Contact Kathleen@lfprograms.org for more information about ongoing research.
NOTE: If you are currently suffering from symptoms related to chronic exposure to pickleball noise, this
information may be upsetting to read. Please know that you are not alone. 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
and is a very safe place to get support.
We believe that this information may be valuable to bring attention to the health effects of chronic exposure to
pickleball noise and may be helpful as we work to educate local leaders. There is no published research currently
on the long-term effects of pickleball noise. Our Science and Health Advisory Group is working diligently to
address the lack of good information. We will post updates, as available, on our website and/or Facebook.
“The anxiety of the noise is making me sink into a
deep depression. I do not want to leave my home of
43 years…all so people can have fun playing a
game. It is becoming more than I can handle…”
“Absolutely yes! The noise sticks in your head and
you hear it when it’s not there! It’s a form of PTSD. I
live in earplugs!”
“Why aren’t you listening to people who feel like
pickleball is torture?”
"It doesn't let me enjoy going out in my yard. It's just
stressful. It causes constant stress.”
"My heart races anytime I get near it. Trauma has
memory.”
"Because of the continuous sound from the court,
my Doctor has increased my PTSD and anxiety
medications today. Instead of getting off of my
medications in 30 days, as planned, he increased
the strength by double."
"This is like Chinese Water Torture."
“Pickleball Nightmares?”
"The pain, suffering and mental anguish is
unbearable. Someday the perpetrators of this
nightmare will pay"
"This dangerous involuntary noise torture
experiment ran it’s full course. Now please stop it."
"The noise messes with your head, you know?"
"If I have to go into my backyard and listen to it I
sometimes yell PING POP PING PING POP haha.
It’s like living in a pressure cooker if I have to be
home listening to it all day, it’s not good.”
“Phantom noises wake me up from a deep sleep,
my heart jumps when I hear certain POP sounds.”
"I could literally feel my blood pressure going up
whenever I was subjected to the noise."
"Splitting headaches, high blood pressure, sleep
deprivation."
"Stress, fatigue, anxiety, loss of concentration,
mental distress, loss of sleep."
“I got through losing a child. This is harder.”
“I’ll admit I’m a sufferer of PTPSS - Post Traumatic
Pickle Stress Syndrome. Actually, a survivor of
PTPSS, sleepless nights. Moved.”
"...suffer from many symptoms, such as inability to
concentrate, stress and anxiety."
“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.”
"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.”
“...destroyed by hundreds of high pitched, brain cell
killing pops, I equated what I felt in that moment to
being attacked by swarms of mosquitoes. 10's of
thousands of bites over 13 hours like yesterday is
not tenable. The physical and mental toll from
constantly being in a state of high alert from these
daily assaults is not known yet, but will be revealed
in the coming years by unwilling lab testers like
myself.”
“I am literally in tears right now - the noise has me
very stressed and depressed.“
“Does anyone else experience this? Woke up at 2
am because of phantom noise, heart racing and
couldn't get back to sleep. Still happens after 2
years of this.”
“It's a serious thing when you hear things which are
not real…Every single morning when I wake up I was
thinking about another torture day. I have been
tortured every single day.”
"I definitely have a trauma response" Lived in
Saudi Arabia, in a complex hit with suicide bomber.
She states the noise from pickleball is worse.”
"..the constant noise has led to headaches, mental
distress, and loss of sleep, impacting their daily
lives significantly."
"4 Pickleball courts have been installed 100ft from
my house and within thefirst week I am driven
insane with the noise!”
“I cannot relax and am always angry!!!”
"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."
"Even the CIA has regulations they follow so as not
to torture inhumanely with noise."
"The problem as with pickleball is that it’s incessant
and we have no control...I’m an Iraq veteran, spent
6 months living in a plywood shack and hearing
rockets and mortars hit the camp often. I walked
away from that experience with no PTSD. This is
worse."
"Anyone else living near this racket getting chronic
headaches?...sensitization to sound."
“My dad is a Vietnam veteran, and the constant pop
pop pop sound has triggered PTSD."
“I spend a lot of time praying that somehow, I will
grow accustomed to the noise, but that isn’t going
to happen. I’ve attended numerous town meetings
and they act as if I’m crazy...I have been dealing
with irregular heart rate issues and major stress.”
“I’m sick to my stomach. I can’t sleep at night. It's
been horrific for the last three summers.”
“I do not think I am exaggerating, based upon what I
have researched and read, to state that the chronic,
intrusive, invasive and non-escapable nuisance
assault of pickleball noises can equate to the slow
un-aliving of the person(s) being impacted…The
silence between hits becomes as stressful as the
impulse noise.”
"...has caused me to have the equivalent of PTSD...
I find that even tennis on the same courts now
triggers a similar response. For me, I feel that I have
been Imprinted with pball noise and I react to it now
at any volume or dB level. I cannot accept having a
court near me that has been "mitigated" at any
level, it will still trigger a fight or flight response.”
“Migraines, relationship issues, feel like I’m going
crazy, sleep is completely disrupted.” Takes
medication for symptoms. Is an ER doctor, used to
trauma and stress. Says “Pickleball is like nothing
I’ve ever dealt with.”
“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.”
"I hear the pop of water on to my pool float and it
makes me jump. How ridiculous is that?"
“The noise is constant, you wake up and you hear it,
you go to sleep and you hear it, you can't escape it.
It was an intrusion that I couldn't escape.... Seeing
a therapist every two weeks. Diagnosed with PTSD
With high levels of stress....No prior mental health
issues.”
“My IBS has been acting up lately and I think it's
because of the constant pops and not knowing
when the noise will stop. I need help.”
No one believed me early on as I heard phantom
pb. I went nuts on New Years Day a few years ago,
it being a holiday I was looking forward to the
silence. I’m in bed and I swear I hear pb. Instant
anxiety. I walk over to the courts only to see every
gate locked and not a single person in the park. I
feel like this was around year 3 at that time the
courts were 8am- 10pm every day and I was losing
my mind. Happened a few other times as well,
really scary feeling when I’m convinced I hear it and
there is no one at the courts. I’ve been through so
much with noise from pb.”
For more information contact:
The Lasiewicz Foundation
(818) 249-9691
noisecontrol@lasiewicz.org
or visit:
Pickleball Noise Relief on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/pickleballnoise
relief
Pickleball Noise Relief on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@robmastroianni
Pickleball Noise Hotspots on Google Maps
https://tinyurl.com/59wev7de
Model Noise Ordinance for Pickleball
https://www.nonoise.org/regulation/Pickleball
Model Noise Ordinance.pdf
“Siting a pickleball court without proper planning
is the functional equivalent of planning to create
noise problems and community conflicts.”
Les Blomberg
Noise Pollution Clearinghouse