Barakhamba student Hridhaan Agarwal’s venture, QuietServe, is finding a second use for discarded tennis balls by turning them into acoustic panels for classrooms and restaurants.
For a competitive tennis player, used balls are part of the game. They lose their bounce, get replaced and are eventually thrown away. But Hriddhan Agarwal began wondering whether they could be useful long after they left the court.
The question led him to an unexpected problem: noisy rooms.
In classrooms, teachers sometimes struggle to make themselves heard over the din of group activities. In restaurants, conversations compete with the clatter of crockery and the hum of other diners. Hriddhan saw a connection between these everyday problems and the pile of tennis balls that had prompted his curiosity.
His venture, QuietServe, set out to turn used tennis balls into acoustic panels designed to manage sound in indoor spaces. The idea was easier to imagine than to execute. Hriddhan had to understand how materials interact with sound, build prototypes and work out where the panels should be placed. He sought feedback from teachers and other users, then adjusted the designs to suit different spaces.
QuietServe is an innovative initiative focused on sustainability and acoustics, transforming used tennis balls into high-performance acoustic panels to manage indoor sound.
According to information provided about the venture, QuietServe has repurposed more than 5,000 tennis balls. The project reports noise reductions of around 15 decibels in tested spaces, though results depend on the room and installation.
Schools offered a practical testing ground. QuietServe’s panels have reportedly been installed across ten classrooms, a music room and activity spaces in three schools, reaching more than 1,900 students and staff. Teachers reported less echo and clearer speech. Hriddhan continued to seek feedback after installation, recognising that a classroom discussion and a music session do not have the same acoustic requirements.
The idea has also travelled beyond schools. Bellissimo Hospitality partnered with Hriddhan on installations across multiple restaurants, including Imperfecto, and reportedly purchased around ₹4 lakh worth of acoustic products. In these spaces, the challenge was similar: making conversation easier in busy rooms.
For Hriddhan, the project has also become a way to introduce other students to the science behind an everyday experience. Workshops and demonstrations have reached more than 500 students, exploring acoustics, material science and sustainability.
QuietServe is still a young venture, and its long-term impact will depend on how well its panels perform across different environments, how durable they prove to be and whether the model can scale economically. But the idea has moved beyond an intriguing experiment into school installations and commercial use.
What makes the story interesting is not simply that tennis balls can be recycled. It is that Hriddhan looked at something routinely discarded and asked whether it could solve a problem people encounter every day.
The balls had stopped being useful on the court. He wondered if they still had a role to play elsewhere.