Does anyone else find absolute silence difficult to deal with? In particular difficult to sleep in complete silence?
I think it started from a young age, being obsessed with music. Falling asleep with music.
As an adult, I still struggle with this and need some form of audio to drift off, be it music or something else.
More recently, I find stand-up comedy works best - it's light-hearted and doesn't require too much thought.
My father and my son both can't sleep without a fan. Ceiling fans don't count because they're too quiet.
When we moved from the middle of town (a block from the railroad tracks, no less) out here to the country, my girlfriend had trouble sleeping because it was too quiet. Then she had trouble sleeping because of my snoring. You just can't please some people :)
I can't sleep if I can hear voices. Other noises generally don't bother me, but my brain tries to listen to whatever is being said.