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Recently a friend asked us if we could recommend a quiet electric toothbrush .
He wanted to be as quiet as possible in the bathroom and when brushing his teeth in the morning and to show consideration for his roommates who were still sleeping, so his reasoning.
In fact, we didn’t have to think twice. Yes, we were able to, because we had recently dealt with this topic ourselves.
Electric toothbrushes can also be too loud
Electric toothbrushes are pretty practical. When used correctly, they reliably clean your teeth and you can walk around the apartment while brushing your teeth or do other things with your free hand.
But they can also be pretty loud. Anyone who has ever brushed their teeth with a rotating electric toothbrush will know this.
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Why a quiet electric toothbrush makes sense
People are differently sensitive to noise. While one person feels disturbed by the slightest noise, the other may not perceive the same noise as that unpleasant.
As a result, not everyone will feel the need for a quiet electric toothbrush.
We thought about the volume of an electric toothbrush because we don’t get up together during the week.
This means that one is still asleep in bed while the other scurries down the hall with the electric toothbrush in his mouth.
In the morning in particular, things usually have to be quick, and you really appreciate the fact that you can quickly grab your bag or put your cup in the dishwasher with your free hand while brushing your teeth.
In order not to disturb the rest of the morning, but to still be as effective as possible in terms of time management, we have often asked for a quiet electric toothbrush.
Sometimes the desire for a quiet electric toothbrush isn’t just for reasons of consideration.
Even if you live alone and do not have to be considerate of anyone in the apartment, a toothbrush that is too loud can interfere with cleaning.
Especially in the morning, when you have just got up and want to endure as little noise as possible, a quiet electric toothbrush can be useful, as can a quiet hair dryer , a quiet coffee machine , or a quiet kettle .
We found a quiet electric toothbrush by accident
We then found one by accident. Some time ago a friend visited us over the weekend.
When he came out of the bathroom with his electric toothbrush in his mouth, we were amazed at how quietly his model cleaned. Apart from a very faint vibration, nothing could actually be heard. We didn’t know that at all.
After we asked him about it, he showed us his toothbrush, which he had only had for a few weeks. It was the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean, which you can view here on Amazon. *
Our friend was absolutely delighted with this model, both in terms of the cleaning performance and the low volume during operation.
Aha, a sonic toothbrush. We didn’t have one before and did a little research.
Electric toothbrush and sonic toothbrush in volume comparison
If you compare an electric toothbrush (rotary toothbrush) and a sonic toothbrush, you also compare the different technologies behind them.
But what are the differences between these two types? Short and sweet:
The rotary toothbrush
The widely used rotary toothbrush is an electric toothbrush. With this technique, the round head moves quickly alternately to the left and right (oscillating-rotating vibrations) using a small electric motor and thereby rotates over the teeth.
The sonic toothbrush
The sonic toothbrush, which is considered a further development of the electric toothbrush, is initially an electric toothbrush. It has an elongated head that is reminiscent of the head of a normal manual toothbrush.
Instead of an electric motor, a sound transducer provides the necessary vibrations, which are transmitted to the brush head (see also: Wikipedia ).
Due to these vibrations, the bristles of the head move back and forth very quickly.
But there is also a remarkable difference in terms of volume.
As long-time users, we know from our own experience that our rotary toothbrush is relatively noisy and makes a rather mechanical noise.
A sonic toothbrush, on the other hand, is much quieter in operation and produces a more vibrating noise.
You can see the difference in volume between an Oral-B and a Sonicare in the following video, in which the volume of both toothbrushes was measured with a sound level meter.
As you can see, the sonic toothbrush is much quieter in operation. You can already hear that without reading the values on the sound level meter.
If volume is an issue for you and you are looking for a quiet electric toothbrush, then you should use a sonic toothbrush.
Make the electric toothbrush quieter
Of course, it would be easiest if an existing electric toothbrush could be turned down. Then you could keep the existing model and not have to spend money again on a new device.
How this is supposed to work, we were allowed to read in a forum. There it was recommended to simply put a washcloth around the toothbrush handle. Of course we tried that out right away. Unfortunately with sobering results.
With our Braun Oral-B toothbrush, that didn’t work at all. With or without a washcloth – the device was basically the same loud.
In our opinion, that’s because most of the noise comes from the high end. Namely on the pin on which the toothbrush is attached and which, through its movement, then ensures the rotating head of the bust.
Of course, you can’t wrap a washcloth around it. And even if that were the case, from our point of view that wouldn’t help either, since a washcloth doesn’t have a particularly sound-absorbing effect.
We were not able to make our existing electric toothbrush quieter with these measures.
And even if this could save a few decibels, we don’t particularly like the idea of having to wrap a washcloth around the handpiece every time we brush our teeth.
Conclusion
By making a direct comparison, we found that our friend’s sonic toothbrush is clearly noticeably quieter than our toothbrush with a rotating head.
This impression is also confirmed in the video above.
For us this means: If we want a quiet electric toothbrush, we would have to switch from our current electric toothbrush with rotation to a sonic toothbrush.
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