Bathroom
Buying guides for bathroom, ranked by the noise figures makers publish.
Quietest bathroom fan with heater: seven fan heaters by their sone ratings
Panasonic's WhisperWarm DC pair hold the lowest HVI-certified rating among bathroom fans with heaters, 0.7 sone at 110 CFM. Delta and Broan-NuTone heater fans follow at 1.5 sones moving 80 CFM. Air King's uncertified units are ranked only against each other, and no maker rates the heat setting.
Quietest beard trimmer: Panasonic and Norelco noise figures, one brand at a time
Panasonic's ER-SB40 and ER-GB80 declare 64 dB(A) re 1 pW and its long-beard ER-GB96 65. Norelco's Beard Trimmer 5000 and 7000 Series and the 9000 Prestige all print a 69 dB(A) maximum. The two makers state noise on different footings, so each brand is ranked only within itself.
Quietest booster pump: four home water boosters with a maker decibel figure
DAB rates its E.SYBOX at 43 dB(A) and the E.SYBOX Mini 3 at 45, both at 1 meter in free field. Grundfos gives the SCALA2 44 dB(A) in typical use, and Franklin Electric gives the VersaBoost Pro 45 dB. See how each figure was taken and which ones can be compared.
Quietest electric shaver: 61 dB(A) for Panasonic's ARC5, 63 for Braun's Series 7
Panasonic's ARC5 ES-LV97 and ES-LV67 declare 61 dB(A) in shaving mode, the lowest Panasonic figure. Braun's Series 7 and Series 9 Pro declare 63, its lowest. Norelco shavers all print one 69 dB(A) maximum. Each maker's figures are ranked only among its own, and none appears in a US English manual.
Quietest electric toothbrush: the Oral-B iO noise levels, 62 and 64 dB (A)
Oral-B's international iO manuals print "Noise level: 62 dB (A)" for the iO Series 7 to 9 and 64 for the Series 3 to 6 and 10, yet Oral-B's US page puts the Series 9 near 72 dB. Philips, Quip, Burst and Waterpik print nothing; Laifen and Oclean give only floors and ceilings.
Quietest hand dryer: nine models and the decibel figures their makers print
Dyson prints 62 dB(A) at 2 m for the Airblade 9kJ in Eco mode and 63 for the Airblade V, in a semi-anechoic room. Mitsubishi Electric prints 56 dB at 2 m for the Jet Towel Slim, in a fully anechoic one. Nine dryers, grouped so only matching tests meet.
A quiet wall heater for a bathroom, by the decibels makers print
The Stiebel Eltron CK 150-1 Premium is the quietest bathroom wall heater we could verify: 37 dB(A) in its 750 watt silent mode, 48 dB(A) at full power. Dreo lists 28 dB for its ALCI-plug 517AS at the lowest speed setting, in plain dB, so we rank each maker only against itself.
The quietest bathroom fans with a humidity sensor, ranked on certified sones
The quietest bathroom fan with humidity sensor control is the one whose boost speed you can stand, since the sensor picks when it runs. We ranked Panasonic, Delta Breez and Broan sensor fans on certified sones at boost and at idle, and read each manual on what starts and stops them.
Delta Breez sones: which BreezSignature is quietest on your duct
On a 6-inch duct the BreezSignature SIG80-110 and SIG80-110LED are Delta's quietest fans at 110 CFM: under 0.3 sone at 0.1 inch and 0.8 sone at 0.25 inch, still at full airflow. On a 4-inch duct the SIG110 is 0.6 sone at 95 CFM at 0.25 inch, and nearly every Delta Breez table gives sones at both pressures.
Broan bathroom fan sones at 0.1 inch, and the few rated at 0.25
The EVOLVE PTE511RK and its lighted twin are Broan's quietest fans: under 0.3 sone at 50 and 80 CFM and 0.3 at 110 CFM at 0.1 inch on a 6-inch duct, and 0.9 sone at 110 CFM at 0.25 inch, still at full airflow. Most of Broan's 89 current sheets give a sone figure at 0.1 inch only.
Panasonic Whisper fan sones: Pick-A-Flow settings at 0.25 inch
The slim-grille WhisperGreen Select FV-0511VKS3S is Panasonic's quietest fan on paper: with 6-inch duct, every speed from 30 to 110 CFM is under 0.3 sone at 0.25 inch. Panasonic boxes lean on "under 0.3", but the WhisperFit, WhisperValue and WhisperWarm reach 1.2 to 1.5 sones at their top settings at 0.25 inch.
The quietest bathroom fans for small bathrooms and powder rooms
A half bath or small bathroom needs only 50 to 80 CFM, so the figure that matters is the sone rating at that setting. We ranked fans on HVI-certified sones at 50 and 80 CFM at the tougher 0.25-inch test pressure, mostly through the 4-inch duct a small bathroom tends to have.
The quietest bathroom fans with a light, ranked on certified sones
Replacing a fan and light combo? We ranked fan-lights from Panasonic, Delta Breez and Broan-NuTone on HVI-certified sones at the tougher 0.25-inch test pressure, and read the manuals for what glows, blinks or switches itself on at night.
The quietest hair clippers and trimmers, by declared sound power
Philips prints a declared sound power figure, Lc in dB(A), in its grooming manuals; Wahl, Panasonic, Braun and Remington print none in the documents we read. Which Norelco clippers and trimmers declare 69 and which 75, what the gap means at your ear, and what it means for a child's haircut.
The quietest hair dryers
The Dreame Hair Miracle publishes a 57 dB ceiling, measured per Dreame's footnote at its loudest mode, and the Laifen Swift a 59 dB average. Dyson publishes no figure at all. Nineteen dryers with published numbers, the quietest high speed and conventional picks, and what each one costs.
The quietest bathroom exhaust fans, by real sones
The sone rating on the box is measured under ideal conditions. We ranked bathroom fans on how loud they are once installed, and on the duct you have.