Away from there

Somehow stumbled onto a wireless internet connection which, while swinging between "Low" and "Very Low" strengths, is enough to keep me online as much as I need to be. I am camped in a friend's basement guest room, listening to unfamiliar squeaks and creaks of the house and its inhabitants. Why is it that homes outside the city seem so much noisier? Is it because the night air around them is so much emptier?