This is a comment that came to mind partly because I have some tinnitus that causes a buzzing sound even when you are in environmental silence.
“Silence” was the name of a novel by a Japanese author (there was a recent Hollywood movie version of it) about Western Christian missionaries whom are effectively muted by Japanese authorities.
Increasingly I prefer silence to noise like movies or music, but I still like music at times. As one of my drivers said, “peace and quiet.” Memory and imagination.
I said to an Asian online girlfriend a while back that Westerners sometimes feel guilty because we feel we are imposing our culture on you. She broke up with me.
Also, my roommate first year of college was able to do complex engineering homework while listening to heavy metal music. I could barely read without near-total silence.