# Raquetball Court Noises

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raquetball-court-noises/261616>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 26, 2004, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raquetball-court-noises/261616 "2004-08-26T16:05:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CaptainMyrrh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@CaptainMyrrh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainMyrrh)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raquetball-court-noises/261616/1 "2004-08-26T16:05:05Z")

</div>

Anyone who has played raquetball has heard that weird, high pitched noise that seemingly comes out of nowhere. It comes on all types of shots in all locations, and ranges from really loud to faint, but seems to not be related at all to speed or placement of the shot. Even the loudest are often only heard by one person playing. Does anyone know what is causing this? My suspicion is that it is related to some type of interaction of the sound waves bouncing off the walls, but without any information to actually substantiate that, I’m curious. So what are the physics behind the weird raquetball noise?

-Captain Myrrh

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raquetball-court-noises/261616/2 "2004-08-26T17:09:51Z")

</div>

The only time I noticed the sounds you describe was after I had been hit hard in the ear with a racquetball. For the next hour, every time the ball contacted a wall or the floor it sounded like someone had hit a tuning fork with a hammer right next to my head. Perhaps this is an odd effect of tinnitus.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raquetball-court-noises/261616/3 "2004-08-26T17:15:32Z")

</div>

No… No. I’ve heard this effect as well. I’m pretty sure it’s not due to any medical condition the OP has.  
Sort of a high pitched Boooiiiiing.  
No idea what causes it though. A racquetball court is sort of just a big echo chamber.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raquetball-court-noises/261616/4 "2004-08-26T18:19:54Z")

</div>

Could be wolf tones–ball impact creates a sound that happens to be a harmonic frequency of the natural resonance of the racquetball court. A rball court is an ideal place to create that kind of sound, what with smooth parallel walls and nothing to absorb sound except the players.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raquetball-court-noises/261616/5 "2004-08-26T18:27:48Z")

</div>

I think you mean “sympathetic vibration.” That is, a harmonic of the ball thwacking sound causing something else to vibrate at a higher frequency. Wolf tones are an [entirely different](http://www.violinviolacello.com/wolf.htm) thing.