Not pertinent but I feel like typing: I read a book a while back by Michael Crighton (sp?). Don't remember the title but it was about these people traveling back in time. They ended up in the Middle Ages in England. When one of them got there, he was struck by the complete lack of ambient noise. I had to think about that. Go outside your house and listen to all the ambient noise, most of it from far away. Then imagine what it would be with zero of that. Quite interesting. Back in centuries past, no interstate highways, no airplanes, no industrial noise, no nothing like that.
Like I said, just felt like typing on my phone.