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Sande Lew was one of the first people to whip out a pickleball and paddle at the basketball courts across from her home in Princeville on Kauai. In fact, she was the one who bought the net for the game, which she said “exploded” during the height of the pandemic.

Lew quickly realized her mistake.

“It was never quiet,” she said. “It was from when the park opened to when it was beyond dark at night, and there were no constraints.”

Pickleball, a cross between tennis, ping-pong and badminton, has seen rapid growth throughout the country in recent years. Since 2022, it has consistently ranked as the fastest-growing sport in America, according to the.

As the number of pickleball fanatics continues to rise — over 13.6 million people played it in the U.S. last year, SFIA reported — so, too, does the number of noise complaints.

Some residents who live near parks, courts or recreational centers where pickleball is popular say that the accompanying sounds interfere with their daily lives and contribute to feelings of stress and anxiety. Still, with no end to the sport’s growth in sight, residents are beginning to wonder: Will they ever experience silence again?

A Rapidly Growing Sport

Hawaii is no stranger to the pickleball mania seizing the country.

The state boasts 99 pickleball locations and 376 courts, according to , a digital community of pickleball players.

Pickleball started to take off right around the pandemic, said Bob Lew, a board member of the (no relation to Sande Lew). During quarantine, he explained, people could play together in their driveways while still following social distancing regulations.

“When people were hit with Covid and they couldn’t interact, they did find an outlet in pickleball,” Bob Lew said. “I think that was the catalyst that made it just go wild.”

Mei Kanada, a recent high school graduate and pickleball enthusiast on the Big Island, said the sport’s popularity derives largely from its accessibility. Pickleball is simple to learn and easy on the body in a way that high-impact sports like tennis are not, she said.

“Even though it’s for old people, I appreciate that it’s easy for anyone to pick up,” she said. “It’s more of a social sport, and it allows those skills and technique barriers to be a little lower.”

Bob Lew noted that pickleball has grown to appeal to a wide range of demographics.

“Three generations can play together and just be really happy,” he said. “It’s a very inclusive, multi-generation sport.”

Trouble In Pickleball Paradise

Pickleball isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, according to some Hawaii residents.

For Danny Lauer, who lives 440 feet away from a set of pickleball and tennis courts in Kihei, Maui, the constant sound of the plastic ball hitting the paddle is like torture.

“I always tell people that I live next to a shooting gallery inside an amusement park,” he said. “People are laughing and yelling and screaming, and then you hear this pop-pop-pop, for eight to 10 hours.”

Lauer said that, from his lanai, the sounds can measure up to 65 decibels. This is comparable to the noise of a dishwasher, data from shows.

But it’s not just the decibels that bother Lauer. The timbre, frequency and pitch all work together to create the symphony of pickleball noise that he said interrupts his work and ruins his mood.

The pop sound generated by a pickleball hitting its paddle typically lands between 1,000 and 2,000 Hertz, or right around humans’ most sensitive frequency range, according to. This explains why residents like Lauer find it to be so aggravating.

“I’m frustrated, angry,” Lauer said. “I find myself swearing, and I’m telling random people about my woes.”

Sande Lew had a similar experience in her neighborhood, where the noise got so bad that pickleball was banned last year. She said that it gave her “extreme anguish” and that it was particularly difficult for her husband, who was battling cancer at the time.

The sport was also banned temporarily in Soraya Applegate’s neighborhood in Kaneohe on Oahu, although not before wreaking havoc on her community. She said that conflicts over the noise, which she compared to gunfire, created a “hostile neighborhood situation” that ended with the president of her neighborhood board resigning.

What Can A Resident Do?

Shawn Haruno, supervisor of the Hawaii Department of Health’s noise section, said the agency has received several complaints about pickleball noise. However, recreational noise lies outside of the department’s scope. Those frustrated with pickleball are typically redirected to the police, Haruno said.

“Since it’s something so new, there’s not really anybody that regulates it,” he said.

Still, further action is possible, according to legal expert Denise Antolini, a former University of Hawaii law professor.

Property owners living beside city-owned courts may be able to bring public nuisance cases against the city, she said. While these kinds of cases can prove tricky, she emphasized that the court would be more likely to pay attention to cases where the nuisance created a documented medical or physical problem for the owner.

Suing private companies that own pickleball courts could also be difficult, Antolini said. She explained that as long as the companies abide by the conditions of their permits, they will likely be protected.

Despite the difficulties associated with legal action, people across the country are increasingly turning to the courts as a solution to their pickleball troubles, with some seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. 

Nathan Serota, spokesman for the Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation, said that he is unaware of any such lawsuits in Hawaii, and he hopes that people will be able to resolve their conflicts without legal action. 

Finding A Solution

But how to avoid conflicts?

Bob Lew recommended that pickleballers choose sites away from homes, a point other players echoed.

Lauer said that restricting hours would also be a good first step.

At city-owned pickleball courts, Serota said that restricting hours is possible, although he added that the department doesn’t want to pick on any particular user group.

“A lot of recreational uses are going to generate noise,” he said.

As for using sound mitigation techniques, such as sound barriers and special equipment that is quieter, Serota said that it all comes down to cost-effectiveness.

“It’s just a matter of would we be able to fund it,” he said. “If there’s a push for one group to look at a particular area and to test these things out, we’d be all for hearing their proposal.”

In the meantime, as pickleballers and their opponents search for a solution, it seems like they might need to learn how to get along — something that Kanada said may be difficult.

“Pickleball has power,” she said. “It brings people together, but it tears people apart.”