Misread it as "hair dryer" at first, but the principle is similar...
Fans are loud, especially small powerful ones. There's plenty of other comments here complaining about the Dysons, and I agree; and I also much prefer the older ones (with a heater), which seem to have a far slower fan and a deeper note. That said, I find towels/paper most effective for drying.
But if insisting on air drying, perhaps a design with the blower elsewhere (maybe centralised, like a vacuum --- another fanned device that's also very loud), a local heater, and slower air flow would be more ideal.
My daughter is 4 months old and absolutely loves the sound of both our (very cheap) hair dryer and our (even cheaper) vacuum cleaner. I think it is essentially white noise to her, as she also loves the sound of running water. We know a couple where the father actually made a 30 minute mp3 of their hairdryer blowing to get their daughter to sleep.
That being said, even I cannot stand the sound of hand dryers in public restrooms. To me, it basically sounds like an extremely hysteric hair dryer. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that they are mounted on a wall, which gives them more resonance.
My parents used to use the vacuum cleaner to put me to sleep as a kid, even into my toddler years.
One night they forgot to turn it off and the motor burnt out.
To this day, I sleep (and often concentrate) better with some white noise going - turning on the bedroom fan is an essential part of my night-time ritual. There's some evidence that loving white noise is linked to ADHD, but I don't think that it's predictive for a 4 month old. :P
Newborns like loud environments. A birth changes environment for child from very loud to a very quiet. I suppose it feels like sensory deprivation for a child. Seems that hand dryer reminds your daughter a good old times before her birth.
A few days ago I stood before the hand dryer in my office bathroom (or at least I think it was a hand dryer, as it was mounted waist high to the left of a sink) and puzzled at its labeling. I even took a picture:
There's no shower anywhere nearby, but this object which I consider to be obviously a hand dryer is labeled "hair dryer". Surely the people who make these know what they're for...
And I agree, a large tank of compressed air with an on-demand heater on the human end would be pretty nice.
For what it's worth, I've seen (and used) those in gyms and bike lockers at offices as a hair dryer. It's possible the person/company who bought it and installed it did not know what they were buying.
I don't know that there's really any difference between this and a hand dryer, but I've certainly used them as hair dryers too.
Interestingly, the Dyson hair dryer my wife has is quieter than our dyson vacuum, which works out great since I'm often on the phone for a daily meeting while she's drying her hair. She says it's a little faster at drying her hair than the average hair dryer too, but it blows air differently so it requires a little different technique to use.
Fans are loud, especially small powerful ones. There's plenty of other comments here complaining about the Dysons, and I agree; and I also much prefer the older ones (with a heater), which seem to have a far slower fan and a deeper note. That said, I find towels/paper most effective for drying.
But if insisting on air drying, perhaps a design with the blower elsewhere (maybe centralised, like a vacuum --- another fanned device that's also very loud), a local heater, and slower air flow would be more ideal.