NEW YORK – Over the past decade, dryers have become faster and cheaper. But despite technological advances, hand dryers leave millions of Americans unsatisfied, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal. In fact, negative hand-drying experiences are the cause of much hand-wringing in the high-tech dryer industry.

But manufacturers think they will soon gain the upper hand, with a new generation of machines they say will make the drying process more efficient, cleaner and downright pleasurable.

Waxing almost poetic to WSJ, Mike Robert, of eXtremeAir says his company's new dryer delivers gentle gusts akin to a "fresh breeze off the ocean after a storm, or a crisp wind on a mountaintop." He claims it also helps kill off microbes and odors via patented technology that involves a refreshing bubble of air.

When Dyson Ltd., the British maker of the Airblade, first sized up the dryer world, the company saw a bunch of white boxes mounted on walls wafting "plumes of bacteria" onto a pair of hands, said Marcus Hartley, a Dyson design manager, to WSJ. He so dislikes conventional dryers, he says, that he walks out of restroom encounters with rivals' machines with his hands dripping wet. Dyson hopes to strike again, recently launching a product called the "Tap," that dries hands in the sink. Dryers jut out from both sides of the faucet, so there is no dripping water on the floor.

Electric hand dryers have been around for decades. Dryers, manufacturers argue, are less messy; they are ecologically friendly and more affordable.

But the paper-towel industry has long dismissed such claims as a lot of hot air. Bob Brand, a spokesman for paper-towel giant Kimberly-Clark Corp. noted in the article that paper towels are good for far more tasks than simply drying hands.

Research findings on the most effective way to dry hands is so far a bit wishy-washy. A Mayo Clinic publication, with a study done by a trio of researchers, including a former Kimberly-Clark consultant, weighed in on the debate in 2012, declaring that "paper towels are superior" from a hygiene standpoint, because dryers weren't as effective at wiping bacteria off the hands. But this year, University of Buffalo researchers, using blow torches and cotton swabs to collect bacteria samples, declared high-speed hand dryers more hygienic. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention takes no position.