WE have a photocopier in our office which makes a musical sound – rather like a lorry reversing – every time anyone photocopies anything.

I very much doubt it’s going to reverse over a small child.

To be honest it takes an age and all of its energy to make a copy of something.

Similarly my dishwasher makes six successive beeps when it has finished its cycle.

There was a time when people were happy to guess this information or wait for the whirring to end.

But not anymore and so the manufacturer has decided to add a fantastic new ‘noise’ dimension to this model.

My point is, of course, that it’s not so fantastic at all.

Life is becoming noisier and noisier and I worry about our stress levels let alone our ears.

More and more appliances and machines are suddenly making noises that we never knew we needed.

Whenever I unlock my car it reminds me of the first three notes of Ride on Time by Black Box. Annoying? Just a tad.

And it doesn’t end there... mobile phones now beep, whistle, jingle and even bark like a dog whenever they receive a text or e-mail.

We live in a world of parking sensors that beep, microwaves that ting, and sat navs that bark messages at you.

You may think it’s harmless noise, but think again.

There was an article in a national newspaper recently which suggested that household kettles are now so noisy that they are as loud as power tools.

According to Which?, tests on electric models available on the high street found one model which was louder than a vacuum cleaner and another on par with a lawnmower.

Which? found the noise of kettles tested ranged from 79 to 95 decibels (dB), which compared with 90dB for a lawnmower and 83dB for a vacuum cleaner.

A normal conversation is about 60dB, meaning a loud kettle can drown out the radio. And on that note, I need a lie-down in a quiet, darkened room.