3 ms·

I don't use the hot-air hand dryers because they physically hurt my ears. They're so damn loud. I don't know which one is worse, the Dyson Airblade or the Xcele

I don't use the hot-air hand dryers because they physically hurt my ears. They're so damn loud. I don't know which one is worse, the Dyson Airblade or the Xcelerator.

xeromal 3y ago
I thought the same thing but someone told me that was autism so I just keep my mouth shut. lol
- arp242 3y ago
  Someone went around measuring volume levels, and found that all were louder than 100 dBA, with the loudest being 121 dBA! These are beyond "a tad annoying" and into "hearing damage". https://academic.oup.com/pch/article-abstract/25/4/216/5519522?redirectedFrom=fulltext https://academic.oup.com/pch/article-abstract/25/4/216/55195...
  - atoav 3y ago
    Measured at what distance? I just measured 120 dBA blowing into the mic next to my sleeping girlfriend without her waking up. Not to question the results, but methodology is important.
    - Gigachad 3y ago
      The time period matters as well. Just clicking your fingers is loud enough to give you hearing damage if sustained for 30 minutes. I would not at all be worried about hand dryers unless you sat next to one all day.
      - pests 3y ago
        > clicking Snapping? Or is this a new fad I don't know about?
        atoav 3y ago
        If I had to guess I'd say English is not their first language (like it isn't mine) and they just translated a term from their own language into English ; )
        Gigachad 3y ago
        I think it’s just regional. I’m quite sure clicking is the common term around me. Wikipedia has it as “snapping (or clicking)” in the first line.
  - I_Am_Nous 3y ago
    I imagine the worst ones are in rooms with mostly tile so the sound has nothing to absorb it.
- NateEag 3y ago
  Can confirm that an autistic person I know is the only person I've ever seen treat bathroom hand dryers as intrusively / unbearably loud devices.
  - EvanAnderson 3y ago
    My daughter hates them. I don't think she's autistic but she does have sensitive hearing. (Whispering between her parents doesn't often go unnoticed, frustratingly sometimes.)
    - TeMPOraL 3y ago
      My 4yo daughter is getting instant panic attacks when one of those hand dryers turns on next to her. I hope this isn't a spectrum thing, but the thought often crosses my mind.
      - ben_w 3y ago
        For what it's worth, loud noises always bothered me as a kid. Even the (1000-person audience) applauding after each performance of the end-of-year talent contest in my first two years of secondary school (aged 12 and 13) was so loud I managed to get taken out of the hall because I was crying from the pain. However, despite some people trying to call me "autistic" as a term of abuse (including a line manager!), my actual score on an (online) autism spectrum test was solidly in the "mundane and normal" category.
atoav 3y ago
Curious, as someone playing in a noiseband I don't even think the loudest (broken) hand drier I ever heard even remotely resembled anything I'd describe as loud. Everything is relative. I always found the dyson ones to be quiter than those old big rusty things that vibrate the whole wall as their fan spins up. But as a sound engineer I am aware that A) there is such a thing as too loud and B) people are very subjective in what they perceive as unpleasent sounds and when it is unpleasant to them they are more sensitive to it
- NikolaNovak 3y ago
  Respectfully, what is curious then? You are clearly aware you regularly and voluntarily engage is listening to volumes louder than average person, so it shouldn't be surprising or curious other people's threshold is lower? :) I find air drivers uncomfortably loud. My children are terrified of them and I cannot blame them. It's the volume but also the nature of the sound that are both rather awful.
  - atoav 3y ago
    The curious thing to me was that it never occured to me air drivers are perceived as unpleasantly loud. Don't get me wrong here, I wouldn't want to spend my day next to one of those things. But it isn't as loud as "I am afraid for my hearing"-loud.
    - NikolaNovak 3y ago
      Fair enough! Yeah, they are kind of the loudest normal thing I experience; but beyond the sheer volume, it's the nature of the sound. I may be able to listen to music potentially as loud as that drier (though I wouldn't normally:), but it's also the startup type and the shrill, offensive, high pitched noise that I think bothers people :)
- Gigachad 3y ago
  It’s probably autism and it can often be the particular sound rather than just the volume. I’ve seen people who found the noise of a dishwasher for example to be very upsetting even though it’s not loud.

I don't use the hot-air hand dryers because they physically hurt my ears. They're so damn loud. I don't know which one is worse, the Dyson Airblade or the Xcelerator.

xeromal 3y ago

I thought the same thing but someone told me that was autism so I just keep my mouth shut. lol

arp242 3y ago
Someone went around measuring volume levels, and found that all were louder than 100 dBA, with the loudest being 121 dBA! These are beyond "a tad annoying" and into "hearing damage". https://academic.oup.com/pch/article-abstract/25/4/216/5519522?redirectedFrom=fulltext https://academic.oup.com/pch/article-abstract/25/4/216/55195...
- atoav 3y ago
  Measured at what distance? I just measured 120 dBA blowing into the mic next to my sleeping girlfriend without her waking up. Not to question the results, but methodology is important.
  - Gigachad 3y ago
    The time period matters as well. Just clicking your fingers is loud enough to give you hearing damage if sustained for 30 minutes. I would not at all be worried about hand dryers unless you sat next to one all day.
    - pests 3y ago
      > clicking Snapping? Or is this a new fad I don't know about?
      - atoav 3y ago
        If I had to guess I'd say English is not their first language (like it isn't mine) and they just translated a term from their own language into English ; )
        Gigachad 3y ago
        I think it’s just regional. I’m quite sure clicking is the common term around me. Wikipedia has it as “snapping (or clicking)” in the first line.
- I_Am_Nous 3y ago
  I imagine the worst ones are in rooms with mostly tile so the sound has nothing to absorb it.
NateEag 3y ago
Can confirm that an autistic person I know is the only person I've ever seen treat bathroom hand dryers as intrusively / unbearably loud devices.
- EvanAnderson 3y ago
  My daughter hates them. I don't think she's autistic but she does have sensitive hearing. (Whispering between her parents doesn't often go unnoticed, frustratingly sometimes.)
  - TeMPOraL 3y ago
    My 4yo daughter is getting instant panic attacks when one of those hand dryers turns on next to her. I hope this isn't a spectrum thing, but the thought often crosses my mind.
    - ben_w 3y ago
      For what it's worth, loud noises always bothered me as a kid. Even the (1000-person audience) applauding after each performance of the end-of-year talent contest in my first two years of secondary school (aged 12 and 13) was so loud I managed to get taken out of the hall because I was crying from the pain. However, despite some people trying to call me "autistic" as a term of abuse (including a line manager!), my actual score on an (online) autism spectrum test was solidly in the "mundane and normal" category.

atoav 3y ago

Curious, as someone playing in a noiseband I don't even think the loudest (broken) hand drier I ever heard even remotely resembled anything I'd describe as loud. Everything is relative. I always found the dyson ones to be quiter than those old big rusty things that vibrate the whole wall as their fan spins up. But as a sound engineer I am aware that A) there is such a thing as too loud and B) people are very subjective in what they perceive as unpleasent sounds and when it is unpleasant to them they are more sensitive to it

NikolaNovak 3y ago
Respectfully, what is curious then? You are clearly aware you regularly and voluntarily engage is listening to volumes louder than average person, so it shouldn't be surprising or curious other people's threshold is lower? :) I find air drivers uncomfortably loud. My children are terrified of them and I cannot blame them. It's the volume but also the nature of the sound that are both rather awful.
- atoav 3y ago
  The curious thing to me was that it never occured to me air drivers are perceived as unpleasantly loud. Don't get me wrong here, I wouldn't want to spend my day next to one of those things. But it isn't as loud as "I am afraid for my hearing"-loud.
  - NikolaNovak 3y ago
    Fair enough! Yeah, they are kind of the loudest normal thing I experience; but beyond the sheer volume, it's the nature of the sound. I may be able to listen to music potentially as loud as that drier (though I wouldn't normally:), but it's also the startup type and the shrill, offensive, high pitched noise that I think bothers people :)
Gigachad 3y ago
It’s probably autism and it can often be the particular sound rather than just the volume. I’ve seen people who found the noise of a dishwasher for example to be very upsetting even though it’s not loud.