On his way out of the office one day, Brigham Young University physics professor Scott Sommerfeldt shut down his desktop computer, printer and other equipment and “couldn’t believe how quiet” the room had become. Sommerfeldt set about to find a way to drown out the whinny noise from built-in fans that cool computers and other electronic devices. He came up with an idea for a cheap noise-control unit that’s built around its own fan.