Headphones can deliver your favorite music straight to your ears without broadcasting it to all the people around you. However, they couldn’t always block out the outside noises floating around in the air.
According to the report of GlobeNewswire, the noise-canceling headphones market was valued at $13.1 billion in 2021 and is estimated to reach $45.4 billion by 2031. And noise-canceling headphones can help you drown out distractions.
However, you might not know how noise-canceling headphones work. These headphones can be the perfect option for you, if you regularly travel or want to listen to your music anywhere – on a bus, in a car, or in the midst of a crowded airplane.
In this article, we have discussed how noise-canceling headphones actually work and their two different types – active and passive noise-canceling headphones, so that you can learn more about the sound technology behind the silence.
So, let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Why Do We Need Noise Canceling Headphone?
In earlier days while you listening to music the sound quality was a mixture of actual music and surrounding noise which cause you won’t be able to enjoy the music.
Because soundwaves generated by headphone got mixed with soundwaves coming from unwanted sources like machinery noise, crowd cheers, traffic noise, etc.
Soundwaves are in a wave pattern that needs a medium to move, it works in a way where it originated from a source and displaces the pressure from one place to another.
Once reach to ear it strikes to the eardrum and this pressure is sensed by the mind and as a result, the human can hear the sound or voice.
But what if that actual sound waves got mixed with unwanted irritating soundwaves, in a result, you won’t hear the actual soundwaves and that is called noise.
To learn more on noise vs Echo it is better to learn from our detailed guide.
Noise is a kind of frequency that could come from different sources hence it is a mixture of more than one frequency which not having its defined pattern and is not easy to reproduce and that is why called Noise.
There are few ways to overcome noise such as using Brown Noise, Pink Noise and White noise if you not aware of these make sure to learn the type of noise.
Noise can also trouble you while you are in sleep but few people start using earplugs, which are not recommended for a longer period hence there are few alternatives to earplugs.
One of the alternatives which you can use to overcome those noise is using the noise-canceling headphones.
Noise-canceling headphones are classified into two types such as explained below.
Passive Noise Canceling headphones
Ideally, every headphone is a passive noise-canceling device. Such headphones are made of high thick sound insulating materials like foam, which block the outer noise to come in by covering the whole ear.
It is more sort of blocking outer noise by adding insulating around your ear which prevents noise to come in, but such headphones are bulkier in weight.
Passive headphones are capable of reducing the noise up to 15 decibels to 20 decibels only but what if the noise level is up to 75-80 decibels which you can experience inside the flight due to engine thrust?
This can’t be handled by passive noise-canceling headphones hence to solve this problem new solution came into the picture called active noise-canceling headphones.
Well, the decibel is the unit of measuring the intensity of any sound which is measured in a logarithmic dB scale.
Active Noise Canceling Headphones
An active noise-canceling headphone can do all the job what passive noise-canceling headphone does but it also helps to overcome the additional noise using its own mechanism.
These headphones create their own soundwaves to mimic the incoming noise waves and cancel out the noise using its own waves with the concept of destructive mechanism.
This means now you have left with the original music only and all other noise waves are canceled out but active noise canceling headphone requires a continuous power supply.
If still confused not to worry let me discuss how do active noise canceling headphone works.
How Do Active Noise Canceling headphone Work?
Active noise-canceling headphones require a continuous power supply to do their job. Where passive one can be created by any own DIY mechanism or with any random trial.
To learn on the basic mechanism on how noise-canceling headphone works make sure you are aware of the basic component every headphone has, such as.
Microphone
The microphone is mainly used for the purpose of talking with other people as it is a kind of mic to allow your soundwaves to come into headphones and then pass to the cellphone or any source you are using.
In technical term, it is a system that converts soundwaves into electric waves to be transmitted at another end.
Speaker
Speaker is close to your ear where the actual soundwaves coming out and enter into the ear. These soundwaves are mainly delivered by the circuitry or music system used by you while listening to the music.
In technical term, it is a system which converts back the electric waves into sound waves either transmitted from a mobile phone or any other sources.
Battery
It the main power supply for wireless headphone as it has no power connectivity and in the case of wired headphone power supply will be provided by the music source such as a mobile or any console.
Noise Circuitry
But in the case of active noise-canceling headphone, there is one additional circuitry that is set in the earcup. Its main job is to sense the incoming noise and create antiphase sound waves to cancel that out.
All the above components are added in the noise-canceling headphones and here these all work in a combine.
Whenever you are listening to a piece of music and if there is any surrounding noise that noise will be entered into headphone via the microphone.
Where the electronic circuitry senses the input noise waves from microphone other than actual music and now its job is to create another soundwave close to noise waves only.
But the created soundwave pattern will be 180 degrees in the opposite phase (Anti Phase) and will send this noise along with the actual soundwaves.
Hence now in the earcup close to the ear, we have three waves.
- Actual soundwaves of the music
- Actual Noise soundwaves
- Noise circuitry created 180 degrees opposite soundwaves
Now, this will be the concept of physics if you overlap two wave patterns in a 180 opposite phase that creates a destructive pattern means one will be canceled out with other. Here is soundwaves pattern.
From the above picture, you got a clear idea of what happens if we are able to generate a 180-degree opposite phase of any wave and mix that with the original wave.
In such a way by having this noise-canceling circuitry in the headphone, cancels the unwanted outer noise and increases the capability of canceling the noise intensity up to 20-30 Decibels as compared to the passive noise-canceling headphone.
Well, this sort of noise-canceling headphone only works well if you are dealing with a constant type of noise but let’s say what happens if multiple people chatter together.
In that case, it is hard to create an antiphase of all different frequencies and the chances of full noise cancelation could get reduced.
I hope you got a good idea on how do such noise-canceling headphone works?
My Best Choice on the noise-canceling headphone
Well, it always feels better to hear good quality songs or music and once you start to experience the quality of music you hear from the noise-canceling headphone.
I bet you won’t switch this back to your conventional headphone as due to its mechanism of noise-canceling and lightweight headphone.
I have been using the best quality noise-canceling headphone such as given below.
You can check the price on Amazon by clicking their link to get best customer overview and seller review.
They are well-tested and verified products that accurately differentiate in between the actual sound and background noise and create cancelation accordingly.
The active circuitry reduces the audio quality and adds a high frequency which in result hiss sound rises which will be compensated with the noise so the audio quality will be great.
Before purchasing any noise-canceling headphones make sure to be aware of the below points.
- Yes, noise-canceling headphones are a bit expensive as compared to passive headphone but the quality always matters.
- It requires a continuous power supply either from the wired USB cable or wireless battery charge.
- Due to the battery and additional circuitry, it may be possible that headphone could be a bit heavier.
I imagine you got the best understanding of what is noise-canceling headphone and how it works and if in a hurry don’t miss to check out the product from Amazon.
Let us share your experience with the headphone so that could help our readers to purchase the best available product.
Wrap Up On How Noise-Canceling Headphones Work
Thanks to modern technology, you can now easily purchase noise-canceling headphones that can block out the outside noise and allow you to enjoy nothing but the music you want to hear. And many people think that they need to spend more to get better sound quality.
However, that is not completely true, because you also need to prevent noise that can overpower your music before it reaches your ears. And in some cases, it can be really difficult to block out ambient noise and concentrate on your tunes, and at that time, your noise-canceling headsets can help you.
We hope that our comprehensive guide has helped you to learn more about how noise-canceling headphones work. Please let us know in the comments below if you still have any doubts related to this topic.
FAQ: How Noise-Canceling Headphones Work
Nowadays, many people use these headphones, however, most of them actually don’t know how noise-canceling headphones actually work. That is why they have many questions in their minds and here we have tried to answer some of them.
Q1. Do Noise-Canceling Headphones Work Without Music?
Ans: Yes, you can use the noise-cancellation (NC) feature without playing music. And it can be a really useful feature to block out outside noises in noisy places such as a train or a plane.
Q2. Is It Safe To Use Noise-Canceling Headphones?
Ans: Noise-canceling headphones generally pose no risk to your health and are completely safe to use. And unlike mobile phones, they also don’t emit low-level radiation. So you can definitely use your headphones to block out outside noises as they pose no risk to your safety or well-being.
Q3. Are Noise-Cancelling Headphones Good For Phone Calls?
Ans: Noise-cancellation function actually doesn’t transfer during telephone calls. It can protect the headphones user from the surrounding noises, however, it does not apply to the receiver of the call. It means that they will generally hear the background noises.
