Peter...more disturbing things
We actually have that Nutone Heater/Vent in our bathroom here. I don't know why, but it does not bother me. The light is just a light and not a heater, the heater element is inside. Or you can have just the fan work. It is not noisy or wierd. Maybe because it is more modern.
The other ones you point out are more disturbing. We had one in our old Chino Hills house in the 3/4 bath. Its motor finally went out, and I actually replaced the motor (now thinking back why didn't I just let it die!) and it ran fine. I wasn't crazy about it but it didn't bother me quite as much as one would think. As a kid it really would have bothered me.
Peter, how about someone who has an older version of that wall fan you hate, and it is rattling and "hitting something" inside, kind of like a drummer tapping a cymbal? You get that alot in like restaurant bathrooms where they have these items. That's always nice.
Tell me if you think this is creepy.
In my grandma's otherwise beautiful Arlington Heights Illinois home (circa 1969), the upstairs bathroom was nice and large. However, when you turned on the bathroom light switch, it activated the switch right next to it, if that makes sense. The switch was a toggle more or less. So, you had your choice if you left the switch down, it energized the wall mounted (Broan or NuTone) large grilled wall van. Brrrrrrrroooannnnnnnnn! (ha!). If you switched it the other way, the fan turned off, and what switched on was one of those big round almost jar-glass type fixtures in the middle of the ceiling. Figure 12" in diameter and 4-5 inches deep. It was a super bright white "heat light". Yech. So you would turn it on, the room would go like 3 times brighter. There appeared to be two white "heat bulbs" inside the jar glass, but it was not transparent, more translucent, so it was hard to say.
I remember having to take a bath there and having to decide those two choices. The summer we stayed there was one of few baths and a lot of "sponge baths" in the downstairs bathroom!