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Noise-canceling headphones without the headphone

spectrum.ieee.org

31–40 of 122 posts

Re: Noise-canceling headphones without the headphone

#31
post #5

Always great to see development in this domain. IWAENC and Silentium come to mind as the forefront. I hope one day the researchers will realize that they are trying to cancel the wrong source. Instead of cancelling noise external to the human, the real breakthrough will be to cancel the human voice. This will confer privacy and other benefits in areas of increased population density. I would prefer a smartphone to ha…

I don’t think this is even possible. Noise canceling works by creating reverse waves that hit your ears at the same time. You have to be able to calculate how long it will take for those waves to hit each set of ears and be able to direct sound at them.

That's the simple, signal-processing oriented way to noise cancellation.

But what if the software/ai is advanced enough to reproduce a sound, but erase a certain aspect of it? Like how photo editing can edit out an object or background? Then the headphones can use a seal to completely block out all noise, and play only the sounds the user selects!

Re: Noise-canceling headphones without the headphone

#32
post #19

>wearing active noise canceling headphones for extended periods of time can be uncomfortable and even cause injury Does anyone know what type(s) of injury is this referring to, how long is too long and how widespread/likely it is?

Since my son has been remote learning at a desk next to mine I've been wearing noise cancelling headphones a great deal. The skin around ears have been super sensitive due to what I assume is just the natural heat build up from wearing headphones and pressure on skin not used to having pressure on it all the time. The skin is raw and irritated. It's not terrible, but not comfortable for sure and has been limiting how…

Huh, as another commenter said, some people are just more susceptible than others but I've worn headphones for many hours a day to no ill effect. There should be no clamping pressure on the ears, the weight should be on the headband. Might be worth looking at different options. Over-ear vs On-ear can make a difference.

Re: Noise-canceling headphones without the headphone

#34
post #19

>wearing active noise canceling headphones for extended periods of time can be uncomfortable and even cause injury Does anyone know what type(s) of injury is this referring to, how long is too long and how widespread/likely it is?

Since my son has been remote learning at a desk next to mine I've been wearing noise cancelling headphones a great deal. The skin around ears have been super sensitive due to what I assume is just the natural heat build up from wearing headphones and pressure on skin not used to having pressure on it all the time. The skin is raw and irritated. It's not terrible, but not comfortable for sure and has been limiting how…

Might try different pairs. My cans for recording are HD180s, pretty standard and they really squeese your head.

My bose quiet comfort are comfortable for maybe an hour or two before i even notice I am wearing them.

From there small in ear with noise cancelling can be good

If your ears stick out or are bigger you should really go to a best buy or music shop or whatever and try on cans until you find ones that fit

Re: Noise-canceling headphones without the headphone

#35

My new Ram 2500 diesel has active noise canceling and is the quietest ICE vehicle I’ve ever been in. Probably quieter than electric vehicles at high speeds.

That's an absolutely feature. Road noise is a big fatigue on bikes and older loud cars.

Re: Noise-canceling headphones without the headphone

#37
post #19

>wearing active noise canceling headphones for extended periods of time can be uncomfortable and even cause injury Does anyone know what type(s) of injury is this referring to, how long is too long and how widespread/likely it is?

Since my son has been remote learning at a desk next to mine I've been wearing noise cancelling headphones a great deal. The skin around ears have been super sensitive due to what I assume is just the natural heat build up from wearing headphones and pressure on skin not used to having pressure on it all the time. The skin is raw and irritated. It's not terrible, but not comfortable for sure and has been limiting how…

If you are able to afford it, I've found the more expensive noise canceling headphones to be dramatically better, softer and more comfortable for long wearing. I'm def not an audiophile, so I'm more talking comfort than anything else... The one I've been really impressed with is the Bose Quietcomfort 35 II. They're usually $300 but often on sale on Amazon for $200.

Re: Noise-canceling headphones without the headphone

#38

>wearing active noise canceling headphones for extended periods of time can be uncomfortable and even cause injury Does anyone know what type(s) of injury is this referring to, how long is too long and how widespread/likely it is?

Recently I started a job that has me using a headset with ANC (active noise cancellation). It was OK for the first week or two but then I noticed my head hurt. My ears felt full and I had ringing in my ears that was quite loud. I have mild (self-diagnosed) tinnitus but this was beyond that by a significant amount.

I'm aware of how noise cancelling technology works it's by creating an opposing sound wave of equivalent energy to nullify the unwanted sound wave.

My theory is when I am off a call and I have the headset on my head with ANC enabled it's working to cancel the background noise. It's only needed on a call but it's obviously on all the time. These are not cheap headphones I've seen them for $300 so not cheap but I'm sure not the highest end.

I've tried taking them off, put around my neck, on my head between calls. But a few times I've fumbled them and hung up on someone or picked up before I was ready. My solution was to turn off ANC which made the sound clearer and my ears don't ring as bad as with ANC on.

My own anecdotal evidence but there is an obvious effect on my ears. I was about to go to the doctor the ringing was getting so bad.

Re: Noise-canceling headphones without the headphone

#39
post #33

Does anyone here already tried ANC on these new true wireless earbuds ? Does a better better isolation always imply to a better sound quality ?

AirPods Pro certainly has much better bass with ANC on, and I'd say overall sound quality too. It also sounds louder, although I'm not sure if that's just perceptual: higher sound levels are fine to me with ANC off, but are unbearably loud with it on. That's in both loud and quiet surroundings.

Re: Noise-canceling headphones without the headphone

#40
post #8

My new Ram 2500 diesel has active noise canceling and is the quietest ICE vehicle I’ve ever been in. Probably quieter than electric vehicles at high speeds.

Not to people outside your truck though..

Common rail diesels are very quiet compared to older style diesel engines. Some are so quiet you wouldn't even know it was a diesel. And with DEF you won't even smell the classic diesel exhaust smell. The loud smelling ones are due to modifications and probably also from "deleting" the DEF (which is illegal).
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