Helicopter Noise
The only thing is, I fly with a lot of helicopter pilots who fly fairly low. Sometimes it's necessary if there is airspace above you that you can't enter, but a lot of the time I ask them why they don't fly higher, and often they don't have a reason.
There are clearly days with low ceilings, certain airspace configurations, or mission requirements that require you to be down low, but a large percentage of the time it's just because their instructor never had them fly higher. I would say most people fly enroute between 800 feet agl and 1200 feet agl.
One of the things I often do is roll off the throttle right after this conversation. Around here, at 500ft you often have only a couple of seconds to head towards a clear area (there's lots of wooded area here), and you often have no choice at all about where you will be landing.
From 1,000 feet you have several seconds to make decisions and you might have 2 or 3 places to choose from.
From 2,000 feet you have lots of time to select from maybe a dozen landing zones, you have time to make a radio call, really study the wind and pick the best approach, and set up for an approach. It's really a lot less stressful.
Meanwhile, from 2,000 feet you've probably reduced your noise signature by 75% compared to 1,000 feet, and by 93% compared to 500 feet.
Some people begin flying higher after such a demonstration, but some don't. If you've spent a lot of time flying at a particular altitude, you feel comfortable there and it's a difficult habit to change. The thing to ask yourself is whether there is a real operational requirement to fly as low as you do and if not, force yourself to try flying higher for a while until you get used to it.
I'm not saying you should always fly at 2,000 feet, and I wouldn't want to lose the ability to fly low when I need to (say, bad weather) but I wish more people would fly higher when possible - it would be better for them if they lose an engine, and it would be better for the industry to reduce the noise we make.