Noise cancelling headphones

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mattc

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Can peopl tell me what they make of the latest noise cancelling headphones please. From preferance I suspect I would like ones that completely cover my lugholes.
 
I recently bought a pair of the Bose QC 15 over ear noise cancelling headphones. Good sound for music, extremely impressive noise cancelling with both active and passive features, and perfectly comfortable to wear for extended periods. Not cheap but worth it.
 
Can peopl tell me what they make of the latest noise cancelling headphones please. From preferance I suspect I would like ones that completely cover my lugholes.

What are you using them for.

The fully enclosed ones are typically best overall but are physically larger and may be a bit hotter to wear.

Active in ear ones are very good if the fit is right. But some people have comfort issues and they can become a bit yukky. Very compact.

On ear can work quite well. Advantage is smaller. Downside is not so insulating.

Figure whether you want a rechargeable battery or not. I personally wouldn't buy ones with a rechargeable battery for use when travelling as it's not a big issue to carry a spare pair of AAAs.

A removable cord is also useful if just using to shut out ambient drone on a plane and you don't want to have the cable dangling and getting caught.

Fully enclosed sets from Sennheiser and Bose would get my vote - with Sennheiser winning on cost and (at least in the past) use of AAA cells.
 
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For what purpose do you want the noise cancelling? If its for sleeping on a plane its much cheaper to buy 99p earplugs.

My take on them is the cheap ones arent really worth bothering with but the £300 Bose units are impressive.

That said, despite cancelling the perceived sound, they are actually doubling the volume submitted to your ears. So in the long term, I'm not sure how good they are for your hearing. Whenever I've used them I've always felt a weird sort of pressure which I am guessing is the increased volumes.
 
That said, despite cancelling the perceived sound, they are actually doubling the volume submitted to your ears. So in the long term, I'm not sure how good they are for your hearing. Whenever I've used them I've always felt a weird sort of pressure which I am guessing is the increased volumes.

The cheaper sets boost the sound as well as performing some cancellation.

The more expensive active sets actually allow you to listen at reduced volume. On a plane people tend to turn up the volume on the ordinary sets to drown out the ambient roar. With a decent active set it's not just quieter but you can listen with the music or movies turned down.

The sensation of 'pressure' isn't real. It's your brain being fooled when they are working into thinking you're inner ear is pressured because the sound muffling is similar.
 
I've been using Westone UM2 in ear monitors for a few years now, not noise cancelling but isolating and very very good audio quality.
 
The cheaper sets boost the sound as well as performing some cancellation.

The more expensive active sets actually allow you to listen at reduced volume. On a plane people tend to turn up the volume on the ordinary sets to drown out the ambient roar. With a decent active set it's not just quieter but you can listen with the music or movies turned down.

The sensation of 'pressure' isn't real. It's your brain being fooled when they are working into thinking you're inner ear is pressured because the sound muffling is similar.

No, the sensation is totally real and noise cancelling headphones cancel noise by blasting a negative soundwave at you thus making things 'appear' to be quieter. The reality is you are being exposed to twice as much noise.
 
No, the sensation is totally real and noise cancelling headphones cancel noise by blasting a negative soundwave at you thus making things 'appear' to be quieter. The reality is you are being exposed to twice as much noise.

It 'feels' real. But it's not.

And the cancellation of sound is done by simply trying to generate a *negative* version of the ambient sound entering the headphones from outside. So yes - it's adding noise but the effect is literally to cancel out the ambient. It's only adding in the sense that 2 + (-2) = 0 and not 4. (Well more likely 2 + (-1.5) = 0.5 as the cancellation isn't perfect).

These 'phones only cancel lower frequency sounds. So the effect is not right across the spectrum.
 
for use mainly on 2hr short haul flights and a long haul flight every few months. I dont want to annoy other passengers with my music and I do want them to be comfortable. So i might as well chose the Bose at about £260 I guess
 
It 'feels' real. But it's not.

And the cancellation of sound is done by simply trying to generate a *negative* version of the ambient sound entering the headphones from outside. So yes - it's adding noise but the effect is literally to cancel out the ambient. It's only adding in the sense that 2 + (-2) = 0 and not 4. (Well more likely 2 + (-1.5) = 0.5 as the cancellation isn't perfect).

I disagree.. 1 noise *plus* another equally loud noise on an opposite frequency still makes two noises.

The fact that you cant hear them doesnt mean they arent there (your ears are simply being tricked) yet you are still subjecting your ears to the now twice as loud noise hence the feeling of pressure.



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I disagree.. 1 noise *plus* another equally loud noise on an opposite frequency still makes two noises.

The fact that you cant hear them doesnt mean they arent there (your ears are simply being tricked) yet you are still subjecting your ears to the now twice as loud noise hence the feeling of pressure.

It doesn't work that way.

Seriously.
 
Dryce is correct, its not "fooling" your ears its actually physically cancelling the wave.

Sounds pressure is a function of a waves amplitude or height for want of a better word as a physical disturbance of air (or metal, or water, or anything....but thats not important now). To cancel out a height of 1 say, the noise cancelling headphones actually move in the opposite direction causing an amplitude of -1.

Interference_of_two_waves.svg


Interference (wave propagation) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for further reading.
 
Dryce and Cabe are quite right. Sound is a physical pressure wave. To cancel you would provide an opposite, as per Cabe's diagram. Therefore no net pressure change (in a perfect system). If it were actually doubling the pressure of the wave, you would have amplifying headphones, and double the volume!

The pressure you are sensing is more likely to be the actual increase in air pressure if the 'phones are an airtight seal around your ears, and the spring tension holding them against your head causes the pressure inside the 'phones to increase slightly above ambient.
 
Why does no one market noise cancelling crash helmets?

Actually, maybe I should have kept that to myself.
 
Good question. I have noise cancelling shooting ear phones, which take out the loud sounds and amplify the sound of the field and line (normally laughing at my missing).

A friend drives his old convertible in normal noise cancellers on long drives.
 
Why does no one market noise cancelling crash helmets?

Actually, maybe I should have kept that to myself.

Good question. I would suspect that M/C helmet noise is just way too bad.
 

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