When listening to music you want the best experience. Imagine laying on a comfortable carpet or bed with your headphones on. Your head bops along to the beat and you slowly lose yourself in the lyrics or instrumental. Just as your energy is about to hit the highest peak in the song---you get interrupted by a loud noise.
This is where noise cancellation headphones come in handy. They block out the noise using different methods. It all depends on the headphones you purchase. How does noise cancellation work though? What are the various types of noise cancellation? Allow me to break it down.
Let’s start with the definition of noise cancellation. Noise cancellation is the elimination of unwanted ambient sound in a specific environment. The technology basically filters out what you don’t want to hear. A tiny microphone in the headphones captures the sound waves and sends an inverted wave back to phase it out.
There are five ways noise cancellation happens within headphones and earbuds: passive, active feedback, active feed-forward, adaptive noise cancelling, and hybrid.
Passive noise cancellation uses a physical barrier to keep sounds from filtering in. Have you ever walked down a street and heard the loud sound of an ambulance siren coming? You cover your ear drums by placing your finger over it. The passive concept is the same. Some headphones are designed with foam ear cups that cover your entire ear. Earbuds are made with silicone tips that fit snug in your ear canal to block the outside world. How much noise cancellation really depends on the product you buy.
Active Feedback picks up noise from a microphone inside the ear cup. It catches the sound waves happening within the ear cup itself.
Active Feed-Forward has the microphone on the outside of the ear cup. The surrounding noise outside the headphones are captured and then filtered into the driver.
Adaptive Noise Cancellation combines negative and positive sound waves. An algorithm is used to create the effect of noise cancellation when sound waves are detected. It can help your ears adapt to the environment you are in.
Hybrid uses both feedback and feedforward The use of two microphones makes hybrid noise cancelling headphones more expensive. These types of headphones also require more frequency and performance testing.
Many headphones that offer noise cancellation come with other features like environmental mode. The Strauss & Wagner ANCBT501 includes this feature and many others. Figure out what method works best for you. Several stores allow you to test headphones out. Find the best pair that is right for you so you can enjoy your music without any interruptions.