I hate noise. Of course part of the definition of noise is "unwanted." It’s like weeds. Weeds are plants that are growing where they are not wanted. I hate all sorts of extra sounds but the ones from fans, pumps and similar devices are among the worst to my ear. Unfortunately they are integral parts of such devices as air conditioners, dehumidifiers, humidifiers, washing machines and exhaust fans. Things that it is hard to do without.
In my dream house the living space would be isolated from those devices as much as possible. I do not currently live in such a dream house. Where I living by myself I would put up with very dry air in the winter, very hot air in the summer, and lots of kitchen smells year round. But I don’t. Oh well.
I do try to avoid these sounds as much as possible. The washer and dryer are in the basement. I use the time delay on the dish washer to start it during the night when I am asleep or when I am out of the house. I’ll run the air conditioner high when I am not in the room so I can turn it down when I am in it. I have taken to wearing my Bose sound reducing headphones when using the Vacuum and may use it at other times as life goes on. I seem to be getting more sensitive to noise rather than less as I get older. That seems strange in some ways because as we age the range of frequency we can hear gets smaller.
BTW This site http://www.freemosquitoringtone.org/ lets you hear sound at different frequencies. Well it lets you play them. You can only hear all of them if you are below a given age. I can’t hear most of them. Why can’t more devices make noise in ranges I can’t hear? Now wouldn’t that be cool?
I dislike loud sounds as well. My hearing works pretty well and I’d like to keep it that way. Why do so many people turn the volume way up? It seems to me that distortion sets in way too easily at high volume.
All I want is a nice quiet world. Sigh.
Why can’t more devices make noise in ranges I can’t hear? Now wouldn’t that be cool?
I think the irritation caused by sound is directly proportional to its frequency. A fan doesn’t bother me. (I keep a fan on at night, in fact, to generate some “white noise” so that people walking in the morning don’t wake me up.) But the battery charger for my Bluetooth headset makes a shrieking sound just at the upper end of my hearing. I can’t be in the same room as it. I plug it in and run, basically.