A whisper is 30 dB, a humming fridge 40, normal conversation 60 to 70 dBA, and 85 dBA is where the US hearing and workplace safety agencies start drawing lines. Those reference levels come from the NIDCD, the National Park Service, NIOSH, OSHA and the World Health Organization. Beside them, this chart places the figures appliance makers publish for products in our guides, so a number on a spec sheet can be read against sounds you already know.
What a decibel chart can and cannot tell you
It shows where familiar sounds sit on the scale, each with the agency that measured or published it. What it cannot do is give one true number for a sound.
"How loud is 60 decibels?" has no single answer. A decibel figure depends on what made the sound, how far away the listener stood and how the number was taken, so the chart puts the published numbers side by side and names where each came from.
Read one caution before anything else. The reference sounds come from agencies, some at stated distances, while the appliance figures are the makers' own, and few makers say how far the meter sat from the machine. A dishwasher figure in the same band as a humming fridge tells you roughly what the number means. It does not mean the dishwasher sounds like a fridge in your kitchen, and the order within a band is not a ranking, because each band mixes brands whose dB ratings cannot be lined up against each other.
What are the decibel levels of common sounds?
From 0 dB, the threshold of human hearing, past a 30 dB whisper and everyday talk (60 to 70 dBA on the NIDCD scale), up to 140 to 160 dBA for a fireworks show. The chart below sets each band beside the appliance figures that fall in it.
Each reference level is quoted from the agency that published it, in the unit it used. Appliance figures are the maker's own, with the setting the maker gives, and each links to the guide that covers it. Only A-weighted sound pressure figures appear, written dBA or dB(A), plus the one laptop figure Lenovo labels A-weighted.
0 to 29 dB
- 0 dB: threshold of human hearing (National Park Service)
- 10 dBA: volcano crater, Haleakala National Park (National Park Service)
- 20 dBA: leaves rustling, Canyonlands National Park (National Park Service)
- Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 7: 15.8 dB A-weighted sound pressure at the operator position, idle, and 26.7 with the CPU working (laptops)
- Medify MA-25 air purifier: 19.8 dBA at speed 1 (air purifiers)
- Lasko EcoQuiet 42-inch DC tower fan: 23 dBa on low (tower fans)
- Dyson Hot+Cool HF1 heater: 26 dBA in Quiet Mode (space heaters)
- Vornado 80X box fan: 28 dBA, the low end of an unlabelled 28/61 (box fans)
30 to 39 dB
- 30 dB: whispering (NIDCD)
- Beko BFFD3624ZSS refrigerator: 35 dBA, no condition stated (refrigerators)
- Medify MA-25 air purifier: 37 dBA at speed 2 (air purifiers)
- Samsung Bespoke DW90F89T0USRAA dishwasher: 38 dBA, no cycle stated (dishwashers)
40 to 49 dB
- 40 dB: the sound of your fridge humming (NIDCD)
- 40 dBA: crickets at 5 m, Zion National Park (National Park Service)
- 45 to 65 dB: the sound of your dishwasher running (NIDCD)
- Midea MRS25I7BST refrigerator: 40 dBA, no condition stated (refrigerators)
- Frigidaire Gallery GHWW085TE1 window AC: 40 dBA on low, 46 on medium (window air conditioners)
- Frigidaire FHDD2234W1 dehumidifier: 43 dBA on low, 49 dBA on high (dehumidifiers)
- LG LP1419IVSM portable AC: 44 dBA in sleep, 47 on low (portable air conditioners)
- Dyson Hot+Cool HF1 heater: 44 dBA at maximum (space heaters)
- Lasko EcoQuiet 42-inch DC tower fan: 46 dBa on high (tower fans)
- Bosch 100 Series SHE41CM5N dishwasher: 48 dBA, no cycle stated (dishwashers under $800)
- Honda EU2200i generator: 48 dB(A) at quarter load, distance not stated (generators)
- Medify MA-25 air purifier: 49.3 dBA at speed 3 (air purifiers)
50 to 59 dB
- 50 to 60 dBA: a typical suburban area (National Park Service)
- Frigidaire Gallery GHWW085TE1 window AC: 50 dBA on high (window air conditioners)
- LG LP1419IVSM portable AC: 50 dBA on medium, 53 on high (portable air conditioners)
- Bosch 300 Series WGA12400UC washer: 52 dBA washing (washing machines)
- Champion 2500-watt inverter generator: 53 dBA from 23 feet, load not stated (generators)
- Milwaukee M18 FUEL 3017-20 leaf blower: 54 dB(A) at 50 feet, ANSI B175.2 (leaf blowers)
- Honda EU2200i generator: 57 dB(A) at rated load (generators)
60 to 69 dB
- 60 dBA: conversational speech at 5 m (National Park Service)
- 60 to 70 dBA: normal conversation (NIDCD)
- 65 to 80 dB: your normal talking voice at arm's length (NIDCD noise meter)
- Vornado 80X box fan: 61 dBA, the high end of its 28/61 (box fans)
- Ecovacs Deebot X11 robot vacuum: 61.8 dBA sweeping in standard mode (robot vacuums)
- SEBO AIRBELT E3 canister vacuum: 62 dBA, no power level stated (vacuums)
- Santos #62 blender: 63 dB(A) at one metre (blenders)
- Valera Selex AC hair dryer: 65 dB(A), no setting stated (hair dryers)
70 to 84 dB
- Around 70 dB: a vacuum cleaner (National Park Service)
- 70 to 104 dB: a movie theater (NIDCD noise meter); the NIDCD's hearing loss page gives 74 to 104 dBA
- 80 dBA: cruiser motorcycle at 15 m, Blue Ridge Parkway (National Park Service)
- 80 to 100 dB: lawn mower (NIDCD noise meter)
- Bosch 300 Series WGA12400UC washer: 72 dBA spinning (washing machines)
- STIHL RMA 448 V battery mower: 79 dB(A) measured sound pressure LpA (lawn mowers)
- Hamilton Beach Commercial Eclipse HBH755 blender: less than 81 dB(A) at maximum speed with no load (blenders)
85 dB and above
- 85 dBA: the level at which NIDCD, NIOSH and OSHA all draw a line (see below)
- 94 to 110 dBA: music through headphones at maximum volume, sporting events and concerts (NIDCD)
- 100 dBA: thunder, Arches National Park (National Park Service)
- 110 to 129 dBA: sirens (NIDCD)
- 120 dBA: military jet at 100 m above ground, Yukon-Charley Rivers (National Park Service)
- 140 to 160 dBA: fireworks show (NIDCD)
- STIHL FS 56 RC-E gas trimmer: 93 dB(A) fitted with a mowing head, measured at the operator's ear to ISO 22868 (string trimmers)
- Husqvarna 540i XP chainsaw: 95 dB(A) sound pressure at the operator's ear (chainsaws)
Agencies disagree because they listened from different places
The same sound can carry two numbers from two agencies, or even from two pages of one agency. Neither is wrong; most of the gap is distance and context.
Conversation is the clearest case. The NIDCD's hearing loss page gives 60 to 70 dBA for normal conversation, and its noise meter gives 65 to 80 dB for a normal talking voice at arm's length. The National Park Service lists conversational speech at 5 m at 60 dBA, and describes a normal speaking voice as under 60 dB. Arm's length is louder than 5 m, and that accounts for most of the spread.
Movie theaters get 74 to 104 dBA on one NIDCD page and 70 to 104 dB on the other.
For rock concerts, parties or nightclubs, the NIDCD noise meter gives 95 to 115 dB, while the National Park Service puts a rock concert at around 125 dB.
Thunder shows a different kind of gap. The Park Service's table lists it at 100 dBA, but its text says the crack of thunder can exceed 120 decibels: one is a measurement at one place, the other a ceiling. Where two figures differ like this, the chart above carries the one with its source named and this section gives the other.
Sound power and sones are left off
Both measure something other than the sound pressure the chart lists, so they stay off it even where a figure looks as if it belongs.
Sound pressure is what reaches a microphone at one spot. Sound power is the total a machine gives off, wherever you stand, and it is usually a much bigger number. Lenovo declares the ThinkPad T14s at 2.5 bels of sound power at idle, next to its 15.8 dB of sound pressure. Husqvarna rates the 540i XP chainsaw at 95 dB(A) at the operator's ear and 104 dB(A) of measured sound power. For its dishwashers, Miele prints only sound power: 39 dB(A) re 1 pW for the G 7766 SCVi. Plotted next to a whisper or a fridge, a figure like that would land in a misleading band. The difference between the two scales has a page of its own.
Sones are a unit of loudness, not a decibel. Bathroom fans and range hoods carry them. The body that certifies those ratings publishes no conversion, and we offer none either; sones vs decibels has the detail, and the range hood and bathroom fan guides have the figures themselves.
Is 30 dB loud?
No. Whispering sits at 30 dB on the NIDCD's scale, and the National Park Service notes that some remote trails in Grand Canyon National Park, at 20 dBA, are softer than a whisper.
Thirty is also the World Health Organization's line for bedrooms. For good-quality sleep, its community noise guidelines want a bedroom kept below 30 A-weighted decibels through the night.
Few appliance figures get this low, and those that do describe the product's quietest setting: 19.8 dBA for the Medify MA-25 air purifier on speed 1, 23 dBa for the Lasko EcoQuiet tower fan on low, 26 dBA for the Dyson HF1 heater in Quiet Mode, and 28 dBA at the quiet end of the Vornado 80X box fan range.
Laptops go lower still on their declared figures. Lenovo gives the ThinkPad T14s 15.8 dB of A-weighted sound pressure at the operator position when idle, measured to ISO 7779. That figure has a defined listening position, which the fan figures lack, so the two are not comparable. For the bedroom itself, see setting up a quiet bedroom.
Is 40 dB loud?
Quiet, though not silent. The NIDCD puts a fridge humming at 40 dB, and the Park Service lists crickets at 5 m at 40 dBA.
The WHO number at this level is about the outdoors. Its night noise guidelines recommend less than 40 dB(A) of annual average outside bedrooms, a figure for noise at night outside the window, not for a machine in the room.
Most of the quiet appliances in our guides live in the 40s. Midea's MRS25I7BST refrigerator is listed at 40 dBA, which the guide notes is low for Midea, whose range mostly lists 43. The Frigidaire Gallery window air conditioner runs 40 dBA on low and 46 on medium. GE's ADYR22LC dehumidifier reads 43 dBA on its low setting and 45 dBA at maximum, and LG's LP1419IVSM portable air conditioner 44 dBA in sleep and 47 on low. At 48 sit two very different machines, Bosch's entry SHE41CM5N dishwasher at 48 dBA and Honda's EU2200i generator at 48 dB(A) on quarter load.
Whether 40 dB is loud depends on the machine. For a fridge it is typical, going by the NIDCD. For a dishwasher it is quiet, since the NIDCD puts a running dishwasher at 45 to 65 dB and Samsung lists its Bespoke at 38 dBA. A fan depends on its speed: the Lasko EcoQuiet runs from 23 dBa on low to 46 on high.
For sleep, the WHO's bedroom figure is 30, not 40.
Real dishwasher ratings cluster in the low 40s
That puts most of them below the NIDCD's 45 to 65 dB range for a running dishwasher. To see where they fall, every US-style dBA figure in our dishwasher catalog went onto the chart, as the catalog stood on October 26, 2026.
| Band | Dishwashers | Examples, as each maker lists them |
|---|---|---|
| 38 to 39 dBA | 16 | Bosch Benchmark SHP9PCM5N 38, Samsung Bespoke DW90F89T0USRAA 38, KitchenAid KDTF924PPS 39 |
| 40 to 44 dBA | 35 | Cove DW2451 41, Fisher & Paykel DW24UT4I2 42, Bosch SHP65DM5N 44 |
| 45 to 49 dBA | 33 | GE GDT670SYVFS 45, Whirlpool WDT750SAKZ 47, Bosch 100 Series SHE41CM5N 48 |
| 50 to 54 dBA | 10 | Maytag MDB4949SKZ 50, GE GDT550PYRFS 52, Samsung DW80CG4021SRAA 53 |
Of the 111 dishwashers in the catalog, 94 carry such a figure. Left out are the 16 Miele and Gaggenau models whose figures are labelled sound power, re 1 pW, and one LG model rated in plain dB.
Fifty-one of the 94, a little over half, list a figure under the NIDCD's 45 dB floor, and none lists more than 53. Read that gap with care. The NIDCD range describes what a dishwasher sounds like in a home, while the makers' figures state no distance and only four name a cycle, so the two come from different methods and the gap is a caution rather than a finding about kitchens.
The whole field spans 15 dB, from 38 to 53. By the National Park Service rule, the loudest would sound about 2.8 times as loud as the quietest if both were measured alike. The dishwasher guide ranks within that band and flags which brands measure differently.
Is 50 dB loud?
Moderate. The din of a typical suburban area fluctuates between 50 and 60 dBA, by the National Park Service's account, and a normal speaking voice sits under 60 dB.
This is the band for machines at full speed and for louder jobs done gently. Frigidaire's window unit lists 50 dBA on high, and LG's portable 50 on medium and 53 on high. The Bosch WGA12400UC washer is rated at 52 dBA washing.
A few figures here come with a distance, which is rare. Champion rates its 2500-watt generator at 53 dBA from 23 feet. Milwaukee's M18 FUEL leaf blower carries an ANSI B175.2 rating of 54 dB(A) from 50 feet, a figure for a neighbor rather than the person holding it. Honda's EU2200i reaches 57 dB(A) at rated load.
Is 60 dB loud?
Not loud, but it is the level of talking. The Park Service lists conversational speech at 5 m at 60 dBA, and the NIDCD gives 60 to 70 dBA for normal conversation. A machine at 60 will compete with a voice on a call, which is why our room by room guide uses speech as the yardstick for a home office.
Machines at work fill this band. At full speed the Vornado 80X box fan is rated 61 dBA, and the Ecovacs Deebot X11 robot vacuum 61.8 dBA sweeping in standard mode. The SEBO AIRBELT E3 canister vacuum comes in at 62 dBA. Santos declares its #62 blender at 63 dB(A) at one metre, a rare figure with both a distance and a standard behind it, and the Valera Selex AC hair dryer is listed at 65 dB(A).
Is 70 dB loud?
Yes, loud enough to notice from another room. It is not a hearing risk by the NIDCD's account, though: at 70 dBA or under, hearing loss is unlikely however long you listen. A vacuum cleaner is around 70 dB on the Park Service's scale.
Washers show how much one machine can move. Bosch's is listed at 52 dBA in the wash and 72 dBA in the spin, which is why the washing machine guide treats the spin figure as the one to compare.
STIHL's UK page gives its RMA 448 V battery lawn mower a measured sound pressure of 79 dB(A). Hamilton Beach Commercial's manual for the Eclipse blender gives a ceiling rather than a measurement: less than 81 dB(A) at maximum speed with no load.
Hearing risk starts at 85 dBA
Is 85 dB loud? Yes, and this is where the agencies set limits:
| Agency | What it says about 85 dBA |
|---|---|
| NIDCD | Hearing loss can result from long or repeated exposure to sound of 85 dBA or more. |
| NIOSH | Its recommended exposure limit for occupational noise is 85 A-weighted decibels over an eight-hour shift, and for each 3 dBA increase in noise level, NIOSH recommends reducing the exposure duration by half. |
| OSHA | Employers must run a hearing conservation program when employee noise exposures equal or exceed 85 decibels (dBA) as an 8-hour time-weighted average. Across all workers, OSHA's permissible exposure limit over an 8 hour day is 90 dBA. |
The NIOSH and OSHA numbers are workplace limits over a working day, not ratings for a single sound. They earn a place here as the point where official bodies start treating a level as a risk.
The loudest sound pressure figures in our guides belong to outdoor tools, taken at the operator's ear because that is where the operator stands. STIHL's manual declares 93 dB(A) for the FS 56 RC-E gas string trimmer, measured to ISO 22868 at the operator's ear with a mowing head fitted. The Husqvarna 540i XP chainsaw is rated 95 dB(A) at the operator's ear.
Above that come sirens, at 110 to 129 dBA, and a fireworks show at 140 to 160 dBA, both from the NIDCD, whose advice for loud activities is to wear earplugs or other protective devices.
How decibels add up
Two 50 dBA machines do not make 100. Decibels are logarithmic values, as OSHA's technical manual explains, so it is not correct to sum multiple sound values using arithmetic addition. Three rules make the scale usable.
Ten decibels sounds about twice as loud.
Every 10 dB step on this chart multiplies the sound level ten-fold and doubles how loud it seems, per the National Park Service, whose own example runs: if one vacuum cleaner measures 70 dB, 80 dB would be the equivalent of 10 vacuum cleaners. Bosch's washer at 72 dBA spinning therefore sounds about four times as loud as it does washing at 52.
Doubling the source adds about 3 decibels.
Adding sources adds less than you might expect. OSHA's manual gives 3 dB as the general-rule increase when sound power doubles, so a pair of identical fans side by side reads about 3 dB higher than one, not twice the number.
Distance works the other way. In open space, the OSHA manual adds, sound pressure from a point source drops 6 dB every time you double your distance. Rooms reflect sound, and indoors it falls away more slowly.
The calculator below does that arithmetic. Give it two figures and it weighs them with the ten-decibel and three-decibel rules; give it a new distance and it shifts a figure using the six-decibel one.
That is one more reason a maker's figure, taken at a distance it does not state, cannot tell you what your room will measure. The A in dBA has its own page, dBA explained.
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<a href="https://www.quietspecs.com/learn/decibel-chart"><img src="https://www.quietspecs.com/images/infographics/how-loud-is-your-home.png" alt="How loud is your home? A decibel chart of everyday sounds beside appliance noise figures published by their makers" width="1200" height="2400" style="max-width:100%;height:auto" /></a> <p>Infographic by <a href="https://www.quietspecs.com/learn/decibel-chart">QuietSpecs</a>: everyday sounds beside the noise figures appliance makers publish.</p>
Every reference level here is quoted from the agency that published it, and every appliance figure is the maker's own, with the setting it describes, in the guide that covers it.
