It took a group of physicists two years to develop an airplane toilet that can drastically reduce the widely-loathed noise levels of its predecessors.

“People have told us they don’t want their kids to be scared to use the bathroom on a flight,” said lead researcher Kent Gee, professor of physics in Brigham Young University.

Because the toilets require a vacuum* to flush with very little water, speed and noise of one’s typical flush tend to reach much higher levels.

“Airline companies have always had standards for the toilet noise, but they’ve never met those,” said researcher Scott Sommerfeldt.

To help solve the problem, researchers say they pinpointed two key aspects of how airplane toilets currently operate. One aspect, they said, is the distance of what is called the flush valve*. In their model, the device is located much further away from the opening which helps mitigate* how readily the sound travels throughout the bowl.

Another step, they said, was to soften the angle of the pipes. While regular piping may cut at an almost 90-degree angle, researchers designed a system with a more gradual trend that they say also reduces the sharpness of the noise.

According to their measurements*, noise levels were reduced in some cases by more than half, from about 16 decibels to as low as five. The technology can be easily installed by simply replacing some parts.

(SD-Agencies)