Who hasn't heard about or seen advertisements for noise cancelling headphones?
For years now we've been hearing about this new technology.
We were recently speaking with a customer about noise cancelling headphones and at one point in the conversation the customer said to us in a puzzled manner "aren't all headphones noise cancelling?".
So today we thought we’d explain a bit better about what noise cancelling headphone technology is so you can have a clearer understanding regarding what the difference is between noise cancelling and regular headphones.
Yes, theoretically anything blocking the ear canal is noise cancelling, but when headphones are marketed as the noise cancelling versions, (or more commonly active noise cancelling), this is an actual technology that is being referred to.
So what is different about noise cancelling headphones?
Noise cancelling technology works by having the headphones use a microphone to pick up low frequency sound which it then cancels before it reaches your ear. This is done by generating the opposite sound.
To be clear, noise cancelling headphones don’t completely remove unwanted noise, but the difference with a good set of active noise cancelling headphones is a massive and immediately noticeable improvement.
A few things to know…
Before you go online and order up a pair, you should know that part of how well even the best noise cancelling headphones works depends upon how well it seats itself over/ on your ears. So it's important that you try them before you buy them.
Next if you remember, we said "a good set" a few moments ago.
Yes, there can be substantial component quality differences.
Finally there are 3 noise cancelling technologies that exist, feedforward, feedback and hybrid. Each has its pros and cons.
Here are some quick details on each… for a more thorough explanation we recommend speaking to one of our sound specialists who can help you find the perfect set for your specific needs.
Feedforward - with this variation the mic is outside of the headphones ear cup and hears the sound before you do. Feedforward is probably the least effective version of noise cancelling because as the mic is outside the ear cup it cannot monitor the sound you are hearing and self correct.
Feedback - with this, the mic is inside of the headphone ear cup. Being inside the ear cup allows for the system to hear what you hear and adjust as required. A downside is that this option has challenges with reducing noise in the 1-2 kHz range (something that feedforward does do well).
Hybrid - here we have a mic both inside and outside the ear cup. Arguably this is the best option because it covers all the bases. The drawback here is cost. Hybrid headphones will typically be your most expensive. One other thing that some people notice is having two mic’s can create white noise.