I'm glad to know it is not just me! Our cheap HP printer makes the worst racket, when the house is quiet I can hear it in all the way in the kitchen from the other side of the house. Nobody else notices it, and I tried unplugging it once and it made an even worse noise (probably would fade as the capacitors discharge but when I was trying to sleep without a fan in another room I didn't care to wait).
As a kid I always used to take the batteries out of clocks when I would sleep at other peoples houses on a couch or something but since becoming an adult around 29 I gained a little more mental control so I can deal with that stuff a little better.
Yep, I have to be in a top-floor apartment with earplugs and double pane windows. I live near the mountains and it has done a lot for my quality of sleep and quality of life.
That is a good point, when I started sleeping with earplugs at my parents house where I don't have a fan or some noisemaker it made a huge difference to me. I found I would fall asleep much faster even when there was no actual obvious noises to keep me up. I've noticed when I'm falling asleep even minor noises can 'jolt' me (its the best description I can think of) and effectively reset my progress of falling asleep. Putting in earplugs can cut my time-to-sleep in half when I'm away from home.
As a kid I always used to take the batteries out of clocks when I would sleep at other peoples houses on a couch or something but since becoming an adult around 29 I gained a little more mental control so I can deal with that stuff a little better.