Crossword Genius

Hearing a noise is irritating (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

annoys

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'noise is irritating' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'hearing a' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'a' could be 'an' and 'an' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'noys' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for annoys that I've seen before include "Nettles" , "Irks, vexes" , "Bugs" , "Causes irritation" , "Irritates, vexes" .)

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