What is the quietest hand dryer on the market?
The quietest hand dryer depends on which test you accept: Dyson's Airblade 9kJ prints 62 dB(A) at 2 m in Eco, lowest in the largest matching group, while Mitsubishi Electric's Jet Towel Slim prints 56 dB under another method.
Five of the nine picks, with six figures between them, share one stated method, sound pressure at 2 m in a semi-anechoic chamber, and those five can be ranked. Read low to high:
- Dyson Airblade 9kJ, Eco mode: 62 dB(A)
- Dyson Airblade V: 63 dB(A)
- Dyson Airblade 9kJ, Max mode: 64 dB(A)
- Dyson Airblade Wash+Dry: 66 dB(A)
- World Dryer SMARTdri Plus: 68 dBA
- World Dryer VERDEdri: 69 dBA
Neither maker names a standard, and World Dryer does not say which of its three speeds produced its number. Even so, Dyson's figures sit 2 to 7 dB below World Dryer's under the same stated distance and room.
Why does the Jet Towel Slim sit in a group of its own?
The Jet Towel Slim sits alone because Mitsubishi Electric measured it in a fully anechoic chamber and printed plain dB, while Dyson and World Dryer used semi-anechoic rooms and A-weighted figures.
A semi-anechoic chamber has a hard floor that reflects sound back toward the microphone; a fully anechoic one absorbs it. The sheet also leaves out any weighting, so its 56 dB may not be the same quantity as Dyson's 62 dB(A).
Within its own sheet, the comparison is clean. Both Jet Towel models were tested the same way, and the Slim prints 56 dB on Standard and 59 on High against 62 for the compact Smart. On Mitsubishi Electric's own method, the hands-in Slim is 6 dB quieter than its hands-under sibling.
How loud is a Dyson hand dryer?
A Dyson hand dryer measures 62 to 66 dB(A) at 2 m on Dyson's US sheets, from the Airblade 9kJ in Eco to the Wash+Dry tap, with sound power from 76 to 81 dB(A).
Dyson is the only maker here that prints both sound pressure and sound power for its wall and tap dryers. Pressure tells you the level a microphone picked up 2 m from the dryer; power is the machine's total acoustic output, whatever room it hangs in. Pressure and power describe separate things, so this page keeps them apart in every ranking.
Dyson's 9kJ page calls it the brand's quietest Airblade yet, and its footnote explains that the claim rests on average loudness measured in sones, compared with other Airblade dryers. Sones weigh how loud a sound feels, which a single dB(A) reading does not capture. On the dB(A) sheets, the Airblade V reads one lower than the 9kJ on Max.
What is the XLERATOR hand dryer decibel level?
The XLERATOR hand dryer's decibel level, on Excel Dryer's technical sheet, is a range of 62 to 75 dB(a) average, printed without a distance, a test room or a standard.
The sheet says its data covers every XLERATOR with the 0.8 in. nozzle, eHEPA models included, and the dryer has an adjustable speed and sound control. Excel does not say which setting produces which end of the range.
Excel prints a similar range for the XLERATOReco, 65 to 75, and for the ThinAir, 66 to 74. Without a distance, none of these can sit beside a 2 m or a 1 m figure, so the XLERATOR is listed on its own.
Can you make a hand dryer quieter?
Yes, three makers here publish a way: Dyson's Eco mode, Mitsubishi Electric's Standard setting and Excel's 1.1 in. Noise Reduction Nozzle each come with a lower stated figure or a stated cut.
Dyson's Eco mode takes the 9kJ from 64 to 62 dB(A) at 2 m and costs two seconds of drying. Mitsubishi Electric's Standard setting takes the Jet Towel Slim from 59 to 56 dB, again for about two seconds.
Excel's option is a hardware change. Its sheet says the 1.1 in. nozzle "Reduces the sound level by 9 decibels by significantly decreasing air deflection noise", adding roughly 3 seconds to the dry. World Dryer fits speed selectors to the VERDEdri and SMARTdri Plus but publishes one figure for each.
Why are hand dryers so loud?
Hand dryers are loud because they push a lot of air through very narrow openings at very high speed, and that air strikes hands and nearby surfaces at close range.
Dyson's numbers show the scale. The 9kJ moves 5.3 gallons of air a second through two 0.02 in apertures, and the Airblade V reaches 420 mph at low voltage.
Excel names one source of the sound outright when it describes its larger nozzle as "decreasing air deflection noise", the noise of air bouncing off what it hits. That is why a wider, slower jet can be quieter at the cost of a longer dry.
Is a quiet hand dryer a good fit for a home bathroom?
Yes, a quiet hand dryer can work in a home bathroom, but most models here are commercial units sold through dealers, and each needs its own electrical circuit and a solid wall.
Dyson is the exception on price, listing the Airblade V at $949 and the 9kJ at $1,249 on dyson.com. Its 9kJ sheet asks for a dedicated 20A circuit for up to two machines and a backplate on unsupported plasterboard.
World Dryer, Bobrick and Excel show no price and send buyers to a quote or a dealer. In a small tiled bathroom, the shallow surface mount matters too; the VERDEdri and Airblade V both stand about 4 in. off the wall.
Hand dryer makers that print no figure for some lines include Excel, for its sink-mounted XLERATORsync, and World Dryer, for its AirForce, eXtremeAir, SLIMdri and Nova dryers.
Two of those World Dryer sheets promise quiet in words, the AirForce for sound sensitive areas and the Nova a low sound level, with no decibels attached. Excel's XLERATORsync sheet describes a sound suppression air delivery system but prints no number.
TOTO's US site returned no hand dryer for our searches, so we could not check its Clean Dry range. American Specialties publishes a 2017 table of A-weighted figures at 2 m, 59 to 72 for model 0197 for instance, with no test room stated; we did not tie those model numbers to current product pages.
