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I tend to restrict myself to using the word "noise" in a very specific way. I only use it to refer to acoustical properties of sound. If a sound has a reasonably perceptible pitch, then it's not noise. Of course, there's some grey area there too, but it works 99% of the time. Sometimes you run across a sound that some people can discern a pitch in and some can't. But that's pretty rare.
Using the word this way avoids those usages that imply some sort of value judgement, and that's how I like it. I still run into people (of course) who use it in other ways and this causes misunderstandings that need to be straightened out.
It's not that I avoid making critical judgements about music. I love making critical judgements. It's just that I want clarity. If you want to talk about what art is, fine, but let's make it clear that that's what we're talking about. If you want to make value judgments, fine, but let's make it clear that that's what we're talking about.
Talking about noise can be frustrating because meanings of the word encompass all of these: the meaning of art, value judgments, acoustic properties, and so on. So sometimes it feels like everybody's talking about different things but using the same word, and that's really really annoying.
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