This is why pickleball games sound so annoying - as expert reveals solution that could make the smash-hit sport easier on our ears

Easy to learn and fun for all ages, pickleball has taken local neighborhoods by storm - but at a cost to your eardrums.

Now a reporter at the Wall Street Journal believes she has cracked the cause of the annoying high-pitched 'tock' sound emitted during the game. 

Pickleball combines elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong, and is played with a plastic ball and paddles. And it is this equipment that is the culprit.  

After analyzing the sound waves (amplitude, frequency, shape) of the paddle, WSJ reporter Eugenia Cheng explained that pickleball has more high-frequency overtones that some people equate to nails on a chalkboard.

'Pickleball paddles are small and hard, and the balls are plastic with holes in them, whereas tennis rackets have vibrating strings and the balls are made of felt-coated rubber and filled with air,' she said. 'So where tennis makes a pleasant ringing sound, pickleball makes a sharp high-pitched 'tock.'' 

Easy to learn and fun for all ages, pickleball has taken over local neighborhoods - but at a cost to your eardrums

Pictured: A TikToker complaining about the noise that a pickleball racquet makes

Amplitude, Cheng explained, dictated loudness, while frequency determined pitch.

But it was the wave shape, specifically the timbre, that revealed that pickleball had a higher concentration of overtones, those high-frequency components that contribute to a sound's quality.

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These overtones, while not necessarily louder, resided in a range particularly sensitive to the human ear, around 1000 Hertz – near the top of a soprano's register.

This explained why the sound seemed to carry well despite not being particularly loud.

'The sound starts and finishes sharply, without much ringing resonance,' said Cheng.

'This probably has to do with the plastic used for the ball, which has much less give than a tennis ball, and also the holes, which are designed to reduce the ball’s susceptibility to being blown off course by the wind.'

But there may be a solution at hand, with some experts already working on designing paddles that eliminate these specific frequencies.

It was a similar challenge faced by golfers with new clubs.

In 2007, Nike released a golf driver that offered exceptional control, but many hated the sound it made. 

Scientists analyzed the sound's frequency spectrum to pinpoint the culprit frequencies. 

Pickleball combines elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong with paddles and a plastic ball. It's played on a smaller court with a net, and has a unique rule where volleying close to the net is forbidden

However, advancements in sound-dampening technology driven by money, and golf generates far more revenue than pickleball. 

As a result, there's currently more incentive to invest in creating high-performing golf clubs that also sound pleasant.

And given the constrains and regulations on the design of a pickleball racket, redesigning the equipment could be quite the undertaking.