On Oct 15, 3:33 pm, Jose wrote:
Widely varying pitch is worse than a constant dull hum. A
chainsaw noise is worse because of all the "vroom vroom" accelerations
and decelerations.

By extension, the "least bad" noise is a leaf blower - a constant drone
of a single tone. It is the sound that I personally find =most=
annoying; even very far away and at a low volume it is extremely
aggravating. I much prefer noise that varies in pitch, timbre, volume,
and other qualities.

Is your statement that "...varying pitch is worse..." a personal
preference, or something that you can quantify and substantiate?


I guess it is a personal preference, but I had assumed it might be
true for most people. May be that is not the case. When we go up to
the summer cottage by the lake, it is a shame that the peace and quite
is frequently disturbed by chain saws. On most summer days I can
constantly hear someone running a chain saw. On open water the sounds
carries well, so the noise source could be more than a mile away. Once
you account for all the people on the lake, it doesn't take much to at
least someone to be running a chainsaw at any given time.