Buying a quiet air purifier

An air purifier should be multiple things: modern, powerful, energy-efficient, and, above all, effective. One thing it should not be, however, is noisy. It is possible for an air purifier to deliver superior filtration power without disturbing you at home or distracting you at work. This is especially important if you plan to install an air purifier in your bedroom or home office. What makes for a quiet air purifier? How do you choose one? Read on to learn more.

What makes an air purifier quiet?

The way an air purifier works is fairly simple: it pulls polluted air into the device, treats it using one or more air filtration technologies, then recirculates the air back into the room. The noise you hear when an air purifier is running is caused by the fan that is forcing the polluted air through its filter or filters.

However, a well-designed air purifier should be able to blend the sounds of the fan and motor into your environment. It should not be making any high-pitched, disturbing chopping noises that keep you from focusing at home and at work.

Location matters

The placement of an air purifier can also impact how much noise it makes. We always recommend never to place an air purifier in a corner, up against a wall, or close to furniture or other obstacles. These recommendations are to encourage air flow and, thus, better purification of your air, but the same rings true for reduction of the noise the fan makes.

When you place your air purifier close to other objects or walls, it can cause an echo of the sound the device makes. To optimise both your air purifier’s filtration capacities and to encourage quiet performance, take a look at our placement recommendations.

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The benefits of a quiet air purifier

It is estimated that 35 million people across Europe are either deaf or suffer from hearing loss or tinnitus. People affected by hearing loss are limited to only hearing sounds that exceed 35 dBA¹. In the UK alone, 12 million people fall into this category. That is a whopping 1 in 5 individuals²! Furthermore, an American study found that 17% of teens ages 12 to 19 show signs of impaired hearing, showing that this is a disability that can span many age groups³. That said, there is a strong likelihood that you know someone who is hearing impaired.

Exposure to loud sounds for prolonged periods of time can lead to impacted hearing. We measure sound levels in decibels (also written as dBA or dB), and the higher the decibel level, the louder the noise. The American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA) states that you can listen to sounds up to and including 70 decibels for any duration without fear of hearing loss risk. However, the ASHA also states that ‘sounds at 85 decibels can lead to hearing loss if you listen to them for more than 8 hours at a time’⁴. Moreso, for every 3-decibel rise exceeding 85 decibels, the safe listening time is cut in half: if a person is listening to sounds at 88 decibels, the safe listening time is only 4 hours.

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Purchasing a quiet air purifier that has minimal fan noise helps protect your hearing alongside the other benefits listed below.

Improved sleep quality

Based on a 2011 study, we spend a third of our lives in our beds either sleeping or trying to fall asleep⁶. The bedroom is one of the most important rooms of the house. Seeing how much time we spend there, it is a place where allergens like dust, dust mites, pollen, and mould can all accumulate. As a result, the bedroom is one of the best places to place a quiet air purifier that will not disturb you whilst you sleep. This will help you wake up feeling refreshed. An air purifier that produces too much noise can affect your ability to experience a full night’s sleep, leaving you feeling groggy in the morning and throughout the day.

Overall, air purifiers have been shown to improve sleep quality when installed in the bedroom. A study performed in 2022 compared sleep quality with and without the use of an air purifier for filtration of air pollutants. The participants (30 healthy adults) were studied for two weeks. One group had their sleep patterns observed with an air purifier containing a HEPA-certified filter in the room; the other group had an air purifier containing a placebo filter. The results found that the group with the HEPA air purifier increased their total sleep time by 12 minutes per night. The findings demonstrate that improving air quality conditions using environmental interventions can have benefits for healthy individuals⁷.

An added benefit of purchasing a quiet air purifier for the bedroom is that it serves as a white noise machine. The soft whirring of an air purifier’s fan provides an excellent night’s sleep for many by covering up outside noises. In fact, multiple studies have shown the benefits of white noise machines for people of all ages. For adults, a white noise machine can reduce the time it takes to fall asleep by 40%⁸, and they can help babies and children fall asleep more quickly⁹.

Quiet air purification in your home office

The importance of fresh air in an office - home offices and office buildings alike - cannot be understated. Pollutant-free air improves energy levels, increases your productivity, and helps with decision-making.

Multiple studies have pointed to the negative effects of productivity as a result of poor indoor air quality (IAQ). One such study found that productivity in most aspects of office work increased 6 to 9% when indoor sources of pollution were eliminated¹⁰.

Additionally, research points to an upward trend of working from home post-pandemic. In the UK, as part of a study analysing home working trends, 63% of employers responded that they planned to introduce more ‘hybrid-working’ schemes for their employees (working from home at least part-time). 45% of employers surveyed would like to expand the use of total homeworking. Teleworking is going to play an important role in our future, and with it, the continued importance of unpolluted indoor air¹¹. This is where quiet air purifiers come in: a device with a powerful fan that emits low noise levels means pollutant-free air with few disturbances and distractions.

How to choose a quiet air purifier?