I can sleep pretty much anywhere in any situation. A habit steadily developed over my years in the military. Sometimes you never know when you are going to not get to sleep.

But if I get the choice, I prefer some noise, because like Jinx, I have tinnitus, courtesy of 130+ decible turbine jet engines that I work on/around on a regular basis for the last five years. Trains, thunder, rain, wind, tv in the other room (I prefer total darkness), whatever it is. Just something to drown out the constant whine in my head.
Usually the sound of my AC at night is enough, barely.