By Vanessa Pratley
Investigative Journalist | Kaipūrongo Whakatewhatewha
The hum of appliances is ever present in our homes, with refrigerators, washing machines and vacuums all adding to the din. Sometimes, you just want peace and quiet. That’s why, when buying appliances, the amount of noise they produce could be a key consideration.
Why you should care about noise
You might have thin walls or a laundry room that backs onto a nursery. Whatever the case, the noisiness of your clothes dryer could determine the model you buy. I schedule my dryer to run overnight, when power is cheaper, so a quiet dryer is key to me getting a good night's sleep. For you, it could be the difference between a good work-from-home day and a bad one.
The average noise output of all the dryers we've tested is 53.4dBA, but we found some that got up to 59dBA. Just a couple of extra decibels can make a big difference because sound energy increases exponentially. An increase of 3dB is double the sound energy. The good news is we also found some very quiet models.
