Modern toilets, hahaha - pull the other one.
Cistern above head height, with a pull chain. Every toilet design after that has been a failure.
1..The cistern behind the toilet creates a bigger footprint, which invariably leads to the whole thing being crammed into a space that was never designed for it. The result being a toilet seat that can't stay up by itself, and or the door being the perfect distance to have you rendered unconscious if someone were to suddenly open it.
2.. The low level cistern has proven itself useless at doing the job of shifting shit, bah! it barely takes the piss away! The old overhead cistern managed most jobs with just one pull, and thus saved water.
3.. The fanatical attempt to make everything push button also fails, as the toilets at work are a testament to. It is far easier to scoop the poop out of the bowl and sift it down the washing basin plug hole than it is to pump the buttons until the pathetic trickle turns into a no less pathetic flush.
Clearly, modern toilets were primarily designed to fulfill a role. Not that of cleverly and elegantly getting rid of unwanted finished business, but that of proving modern design isn't worth the shit it lamentably leaves behind.
My answer to those who consider the rush of water from an overhead cistern to be too noisy might want to consider a hybrid, whereby the head of water is held back at the level of the toilet, as with modern designs, but still having the pressure that an extra couple of yards of gravity provides.