Sanitary Ambiance: the noise effects of high speed hand dryers

"Publicly accessible toilets have been populated by a new variety of hand dryers – the ultrafast hand dryer, using cold air at tremendous speeds to strip moisture off hands. Designed for speed and efficiency they chime with current agendas of “ecology” and “austerity”, whilst their marketing pulls on notions of dynamism and muscularity, sporting tags such as air force, blade, blast, hurricane, jet, turbo and typhoon. While dryer makers claim engineering success, this ongoing project probes at the ‘sonic footprint’ of the hand dryer and its consequent noise effects on everyday users.

Led by Dr John Levack Drever, Senior Lecturer in Composition and Head of the Unit for Sound Practice Research, Goldsmiths, University of London, this project consists of a range of studies including product acoustic testing, environmental acoustics and noise assessment, and sociological discourse.