Need to buy a silent keyboard to Save my marriage!

Get her some ear plugs £1 in Home Bargains

Logitech K270

Pretty quiet and fine for domestic bliss (assuming you aren't someone who learnt to touchtype on a manual typewriter)

I would suggest noise cancelling headphones but that might not be a good tangent! I know you can get quiet mice (the computery kind) but wasn't sure about keyboards.

Google says:I'd avoid mechanical keyboards, even the quieter keycaps (at least, the ones I've tried) still make more noise than a membrane keyboard. (edited)

As louiselouise said about, mechanical are noisier (although feel much nicer to type on..).

Logitech MX Keys is one of the quietest keyboards i've had (I've since moved back over to mechanical) The keys can take a little getting used to for a couple of days, but after that its great. The back lighting is also a godsend on a late night! I know the pain of doing a dissertation, and i guess a hormonal wife wont be helping matters.

Look for a soft touch keyboard - should reduce the noise by a fair bit.

I had a similar issue, WFH during COVID working shifts whilst the wife was trying to sleep in the next room. I brought a cheapish cherry keyboard and that was a lot quieter than the Kingston one I had. The quietest keyboard I've had was a flexible rubber one but was horrible to type on.

I think the Logitech mentioned above and the cherry ones review quite well on Amazon. If you search for quiet ones that should point you in the right direction.

I also brought a mat for the desk and think that reduced some noise as well. Think that was about £10 and made it more comfortable to rest hands/ wrists on

Maybe she has developed some form of misophonia, which is worth looking into. She certainly is not the first or last woman to get pregnant and can't see how these sounds might affect her, if medical reasons are quoted. Keyboard usage is a common sound in this day and age, so developing an irritation to the sound could be an indicator of misophonia. Regardless, in this climate, the focus should be on saving money, especially with another member of the family coming in, so I would question the need to spend money to get a keyboard just because she is annoyed. Would you suggest a muffler for when you get inevitably annoyed by the soon to follow baby cries? I think not.

Besides, you are working on your dissertation. I assume its for a master's or a phd? Regardless, its something way less common than getting pregnant (for example PhD holders in the US are about 1%, parents are 40%) and moreover its outcome will be hugely beneficial to all involved by getting a better position, more skills and a higher salary. Your work comes with a deadline, its not like you are a writer or a journalist who constantly needs to type at home. What's more annoying? A few months of keyboard typing or a handful of months of crying late at night at a much higher intensity? Maybe she should see it as a preparation to what's about to come.

Also, you shouldn't joke about "saving your marriage". If that's a make it or break it deal, the baby shouldn't even get through the pain of existence. We have way too many kids and later adults who came from broken families, leading to a cascading effect of an ultimately broken society.

If besides all that you are really looking into a quiet keyboard, avoid mechanicals and focus on short throw keyboards, something akin to a laptop keyboard. Even more quiet, get one of those silicone keyboards. They are awful to type with but dead silent.

Maybe a silly point but is it actually the keyboard that is noisy? Yes some keyboards do make more noise than others but also your fingers as they hit each key make more noise I guess than maybe the quietest keyboards.... I dont want to give bad news but I think even if you get a new super quiet keyboard im not sure it would help.
Sadly not sure what would really help your wife.
Sorry

I'm assuming you have a mechanical keyboard if it's annoying your wife as a standard membrane shouldn't be annoying her that much. If it is I don't think it's the keyboard that's annoying her

If it's mechanical you could try installing some o-rings which should dampen it quite a bit: next.wooting.io/pos…ard

You know those small rubber bands people use for their braces. You can buy keyboard dampers which are very similar and place them under the key caps. This is meant to reduce the noise. But I've never tried.

Edit: was mentioned above (edited)

I have a wired Apple keyboard and it's pretty darn quiet.