I was 100% in your camp until my neighbor bought an electric blower. The loud, high pitched whine is somehow louder and more ear piercing than a gas blower.
Maybe perhaps possibly, but this is not my experience at all, ever.
Even if you are sensitive and impacted, even if someone buys a particularly shrill one: I can sit indoors and hear gas leaf blowing from blocks away. At least the disturbance you are hearing is localized.
https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/emissions-test-...
Given those stats, Gemini says about 8 leafblowers is the same continuous CO emissions as a private jet in flight.