Headphones With Noise Cancelling Technology

Whether you’re on the commute to work or engrossed in your favorite podcast, noise cancelling headphones can help you immerse yourself in audio bliss and concentrate fully. That means less stress and fatigue on your brain during long listening sessions, allowing you to get more done and feel refreshed when you’re finished.

Noise cancelling technology uses mics built into the headphones to listen to the sounds around you and then create an opposing sound wave to cancel them out. It’s a little like taking two sound waves and adding them together to cancel them out, but at a higher frequency and in a different way. This is why they’re so effective at blocking out distracting background noise.

Headphones with noise cancellation have tiny microphones built into the ear cups (for over-ear models) or earbuds to pick up ambient sounds before they reach your ears. Then, they analyze these sounds in real time and create a new sound wave that’s the exact inverse of the original ambient noise. When the two opposing sound waves meet, they cancel each other out through a process called destructive interference. This significantly reduces the volume of the surrounding sounds, letting you focus on your audio content and enjoy peace and quiet.

Active noise cancellation is the most common type of noise cancellation in headphones. Tiny built-in microphones constantly monitor the external sound waves and send this information to the onboard electronics in your headphones. They then generate an anti-noise sound wave that’s exactly the opposite of the surrounding noise, and the two cancel each other out so you can hear only your music.

Passive noise isolation is also an important aspect of headphones, and it’s achieved through physical design and the materials used in the headphones themselves. For example, over-ear headphones with thick padding create a seal around your ears to make it harder for external sounds to reach your eardrums. In-ear headphones with snug fit and high-density ear cushions can also reduce noise by blocking out a lot of the surrounding sound.

However, passive noise isolation isn’t foolproof. It’s possible that the outside world will filter in through gaps in your headphones, especially if you wear them loosely or the fit is too tight. In addition, certain sounds can still be heard, such as a rumbling train or the sonic boom of an airplane.

As a result, there are headphones with adaptive noise cancelling that automatically adjust to the environment you’re in. They’ll take in the sounds of your surroundings and then cancel them out using an algorithm that learns to recognize certain ambient noises over time. This makes them more efficient over time, and it helps them better detect the noises you’re trying to avoid. However, the adaptive noise cancellation feature does not work during telephone calls, and you will still be able to hear the ambient sounds of your environment. You can still use a microphone for calls to ensure your callers are able to hear you clearly.