Spin Detection Using Racket Bounce Sounds in Table Tennis

Abstract

While table tennis players primarily rely on visual cues, sound provides valuable information. The sound generated when the ball strikes the racket can assist in predicting the ball's trajectory, especially in determining the spin. While professional players can distinguish spin through these auditory cues, they often go unnoticed by untrained players. In this paper, we demonstrate that different rackets produce distinct sounds, which can be used to identify the racket type. In addition, we show that the sound generated by the racket can indicate whether spin was applied to the ball, or not. To achieve this, we created a comprehensive dataset featuring bounce sounds from 10 racket configurations, each applying various spins to the ball. To achieve millisecond level temporal accuracy, we first detect high frequency peaks that may correspond to table tennis ball bounces. We then refine these results using a CNN based classifier that accurately predicts both the type of racket used and whether spin was applied.