EDIT/SOLVED: The culprit turned out to be a faulty offbrand 5V 3A DC power adapter. I tried another adapter - incidentally, one that I use to charge my smartphone - and the hissing sound was gone. My other router - also a Raspberry Pi 4B - uses the same power adapter as the one that started malfunctioning/hissing was using, but it is quiet and operates normally. At the very least I draw the following three conclusions: