Abstract
In 2023, ISO/TC43/SC1/WG45 on the assessment of environmental noise (ISO 1996) was approached regarding whether pickleball noise had come to the attention of WG45, then on how pickleball and padel are dealt with around the world, and a request for international guidance on how to assess it.
Pickleball and padel are growing in popularity. There are claims that pickleball and padel are more intrusive than other sports, due to their acoustic signatures. There is a clear need to develop assessment methodology for these emerging sports with their unique and unfamiliar acoustic signatures. Existing standardized assessment methodology and dose-response studies are both limited, creating noise assessment challenges. There is an immediate need for sharing information and experience globally to help develop assessment methodology.
ISO/TC43/SC1/WG45 has initiated work to gather information and decided to publish findings on existing methodology as soon as possible, and to encourage funded international research in this area.
This paper describes the background for and the status of our work to collect existing practice on assessment of padel and pickleball outdoors, and the group’s plans to initiate work to identify dose-response relationships and appropriate metrics, including the use of Rating Level as defined in ISO 1996.