Noise cancelling headphones

[icecream-guy]

Anyone with any experience?

Thinking about getting some for my daughters birthday,
I see there are several types active and passive,
but get the indication that they just improve your listening experience when playing music or whatever, removing background noise
My daughter needs quiet when she does her homework, not listening to music
I was thinking this might be a good gift for her, but I am not sure that the intended use for homework, and quiet time, that his would be a good solution.

[deanwebb]

Check out ones advertised for hunters/sport shooters - those are built to eliminate noise, up to 125 dB, which is more than firing a rifle generates.

[Dieselboy]

You can get lost with head audio gear - if you are semi-interested in it yourself then it can be a fun journey.

Passive noise cancelling will just cup the ears and try to block out noises from getting into the ear from outside the cup.
Active noise cancelling is fascinating to me - the headphones have microphones and will play back the audio that it can hear, into the inside of the cup 180 degrees out of phase with the ambient noise. You use these on say an aeroplane to cut out the noise of the jet engine. Works with hum noises well. I havent tried with traffic noise but I think it should work.

I bought myself some philips earbud active noise cancelling headphones for the plane. I turn them on, and then I can go to sleep a bit better. I dont need to plug them into anything. But I can plug them into my phone or the plane to listen to audio and because there is very little noise of the plane when they are on, the volume only needs to be at around 25% for a decent listening level. However because they are in-ear (not over the ear) they dont really do much passive (if any) noise cancelling.
One gripe with my headphones though is that, if there is a child crying at the complete opposite end of the plane I can hear them crystal clear. It's so bad that I have had to turn off the noise cancelling feature a few times while up in the air. I have tried this - if I remove the headphones, then I cant really hear the kid screaming at all. But turn on the noise cancelling and they are so very clear it's very bad. I'm not sure if this is just a limitation of my headphones or what, though. But it has made me wonder why parents put their newborns through plane journeys. I remember when I was 4 years old and I struggled to understand how to equalise my ears. It can get quite painful if you dont equalise. The very new planes are better because they have a higher cabin pressure (which results in a pseudo lower flying altitude) but it's not possible to explain this to an almost newborn baby less than a year old, they cant do it themselves and neither can anybody else. I suppose you could try and hold the baby's nose but I would have thought that would be inherently dangerous. 


When I have gone into datacentres in London, they have ear plug dispensers around the room. They dispense the disposable foam ear plugs. They are so cheap but they are VERY effective. Because they are that memory foam material, they also fit into my ear and dont fall out. I have often put them in and had great nights sleep, especially when I lived back in london. Recently, an alarm was going off from 2am in the apartment block next door which woke me up. I grabbed the foam ear plugs, put them in and went right back to sleep. I could still hear the alarm but I would have to focus on it to hear it. It was reduced to a whisper and the sound of me breathing was slightly louder (no I dont have any breathing issues ).
A few years ago when I was into the DJ scene here, some of the DJs were buying ear plugs to save their ears in the long term. They were not cheap and I never got any myself to try them so I cant comment, but I was tempted (I just didnt know if they were any good or which ones to get). I wish I had have had ear protection because the music is very loud and sometimes I had to walk in front of the speaker because not much space and other times people trying to talk to me at the same time and they would pretty much scream in my ear and it hurt.

I'd recommend either getting a decent set of headphones that would be cherished or get some ear plugs. Those foam ones I bought recently from a store that sells PPE equipment for like 50c a packet or something like that.

[Otanx]

To add to what Dieselboy said. Depending on noise levels you can double up as well. When I used to be active at the gun club I would use the foam in-ear, and then put over the ear ones on top. I could comfortably shoot at an indoor range with that configuration. I also had a set of active ones like Dieselboy described. Mine had a amplification for some audio ranges. Had a volume control on the side so I could turn it up or down. That way it killed the gun fire noise, but I could still communicate with my partner without having to shout. The downside was they went through a lot of batteries.

I tried to find the active ones I had, but apparently guns/firearms are prohibited in our URL filter.

-Otanx

[deanwebb]

prohibited in our URL filter.

^ Why I love working from home. What are the keywords you'd like me to use to find the active ones you had?

[Otanx]

^ Why I love working from home. What are the keywords you'd like me to use to find the active ones you had?

I am at home as well, but I don't have personal systems in the same room. I get distracted too easily. Saying that I went and looked them up. The model I have are the Zohan EM054.

-Otanx

[deanwebb]

I go mad without distractions.

[config t]

Not sure what the latest and greatest model is but I really like my Sony WH-1000X M3. The noise cancelling is excellent. Granted it's been 3 years since I bought them.. but I've noticed lately a little bit of popping during takeoff on flights. Maybe the speakers are starting to go.

I moved away from Bose when they started requiring an internet connection to set up the headphones. Glad I did too because there is great quality out there for a lower price point.

[icecream-guy]

good stuff, but I'm still thinking this is the not what I am looking for,  just trying to reduce the house noise and talking, while doing homework,