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Noise cancelling headphones will cancel low frequency sounds like fans / AC, but not high frequency ones like talking and phones.

by tintor 9y ago

dtech 9y ago
Have you tried one? Mine significantly dampens and distorts speech so that it becomes easy to ignore. It's a recent Sony top-model, which from reviews seems to be on the top together with Bose regarding NC technology at the moment.
- slhck 9y ago
  I've found the opposite to be true. Got a pair of QC-35II that block everything but speech, which subjectively appears to become even louder, even when you listen to music. They're great for airplanes, trains, and low-frequency background noise, but for a crowded office where people are having chats and telcos, I'd rather use Shure in-ear monitors.
- fyfy18 9y ago
  I recently bought a set of MDR-1000X and this is how they behave. At work I’m sat next to the sales team, and without them I wouldn’t be able to do any work. When they are on, but not playing music, I can still hear loud voices but it’s significantly dampened (like in the room next door). With music playing, at a relatively low volume, I can’t hear anyone - unless someone is shouting right next to me.
dsq 9y ago
My Bose Quiet Comfort 20 in-ears are excellent for machine noises like air conditioners in server rooms or traffic drone but terrible for voices or radio.
- threeseed 9y ago
  Not sure why this was downvoted. They basically don't work at all for voices.
- andyjohnson0 9y ago
  Active noise cancellation generally works best for consistent background noise. Sound that changes rapidly, like human voices, will be difficult for the cancellation hardware to react to, and headphones that provide sound isolation may be more help. See https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-noise-cancelling-headphone-that-can-cancel-human-voice https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-noise-cancelling-headphone-....
  - magduf 9y ago
    I have headphones which provide sound isolation, as well as noise cancellation: Sennheiser PXC-450. In a room with a noisy server cabinet, I can actually hear people talking better with my headphones and NC on than without. The headphones cancel much of the fan noise, to a greater dB level than the isolation from the headphones attenuates the voices.
- eeZah7Ux 9y ago
  Yes, and that makes things even worse. A constant background noise is unpleasant but not so distracting - and it gets filtered out. Sudden voices are way more distracting and they don't get filtered out. On the contrary, they stand out even more once machine noises are filtered out.
chx 9y ago
Talk is low frequency enough typically.
dx034 9y ago
I had Bose for a long time but now bought a much cheaper pair on Amazon (TaoTronic brand, £35). They work surprisingly well, without music voices are already much quieter and with music (on low volume), I cannot hear someone calling my name even when they're close to me. It's by far better than the 3yr old Bose NC headphones I had before (I can imagine today's Bose are at least on the same level though).
erik_seaberg 9y ago
I think it's the unpredictability more than the frequency range. Passive noise isolation always works but takes a lot of mass on your head. I'm on my second pair of HD 280 in about ten years because they're comfortable.
VLM 9y ago
"Wearing headphones will be treated as insubordination, management wants you participating in conversations". This was only slightly paraphrased from written policy at a former workplace. You have to show some political savvy; wearing headphones in a open office is exactly like being noticed playing games on your phone or sleeping while the CEO speaks at gathering, or making a big production of refusing to answer phone calls or questions from certain coworkers. There's a critical distinction of scale; if "they" don't want you working and prefer talking and distraction to the level that they bake it into the physical architecture of the office, that's really bad for the company on a large scale, but on a small scale trying civil disobedience by wearing headphones will just get you fired. Personally on the downside you're better off crashing the company than getting fired and on the upside the people responsible for the large scale operation of the company probably have quiet private offices anyway and aren't going to reward you for fixing the company anyway even if by some miracle you did it. Open offices are literally in the most straightforward sense a declaration the company has no idea what its doing so talking about it is a good first step. Cutting yourself off from that with headphones means they may as well not pay you. Civil disobedience in this case has no positive outcome; ditch the headphones.
NoiseMan88 9y ago
Disturbances from noise in office environments fall into 3 main frequency bands: low (ventilation/Ac), mid (conversations) and high (some parts of ventilation noise, some noise from office equipment). The most disturbing frequency band (on cognitive tasks) is probably the middle frequency, especially when the noise has "information" (language, tones, signals); but on a physiological level (directly affecting health (CNS function), performance and well-being it is the LOW frequencies that, albeit not cognitively disturbing at first, will have the greatest effect on a long-term perspective. Headphones/noise cancelling headphones are good a fixing problems in the mid/mid-high range but perform poorly in the low frequency range. My suggestion is this: your health comes first, no matter what. If you develop a noise-related disorder, you will under-perform and eventually get fired. I would do two things: use an app like SPLnFFT to document the noise level. Use a spectral analyzer to find out where the noise peaks are. ... then get proper in-ear hearing protection from an audiologist (comes in skin-colored, looks like an hearing aid). No-one can blame you for investing in your health to maintain your ability to perform, right? Literature: http://www.noiseandhealth.org/text.asp?2001/4/13/33/31803 http://www.noiseandhealth.org/text.asp?2001/4/13/33/31803 (K.P. Waye. Low frequency noise pollution interferes with performance)
- geekbird 9y ago
  Thank you for an occupational health viewpoint and the citation. Do you have a good recommendation for a recording dB meter and recording app suitable for graphing noise levels over a daylong period? Such a thing would be useful in proving the noise load of a busy open office and allow it to be compared to OSHA standards.

Noise cancelling headphones will cancel low frequency sounds like fans / AC, but not high frequency ones like talking and phones.

by tintor 9y ago

Noise cancelling headphones will cancel low frequency sounds like fans / AC, but not high frequency ones like talking and phones.

dtech 9y ago

Have you tried one? Mine significantly dampens and distorts speech so that it becomes easy to ignore. It's a recent Sony top-model, which from reviews seems to be on the top together with Bose regarding NC technology at the moment.

slhck 9y ago
I've found the opposite to be true. Got a pair of QC-35II that block everything but speech, which subjectively appears to become even louder, even when you listen to music. They're great for airplanes, trains, and low-frequency background noise, but for a crowded office where people are having chats and telcos, I'd rather use Shure in-ear monitors.
fyfy18 9y ago
I recently bought a set of MDR-1000X and this is how they behave. At work I’m sat next to the sales team, and without them I wouldn’t be able to do any work. When they are on, but not playing music, I can still hear loud voices but it’s significantly dampened (like in the room next door). With music playing, at a relatively low volume, I can’t hear anyone - unless someone is shouting right next to me.

dsq 9y ago

My Bose Quiet Comfort 20 in-ears are excellent for machine noises like air conditioners in server rooms or traffic drone but terrible for voices or radio.

threeseed 9y ago
Not sure why this was downvoted. They basically don't work at all for voices.
andyjohnson0 9y ago
Active noise cancellation generally works best for consistent background noise. Sound that changes rapidly, like human voices, will be difficult for the cancellation hardware to react to, and headphones that provide sound isolation may be more help. See https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-noise-cancelling-headphone-that-can-cancel-human-voice https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-noise-cancelling-headphone-....
- magduf 9y ago
  I have headphones which provide sound isolation, as well as noise cancellation: Sennheiser PXC-450. In a room with a noisy server cabinet, I can actually hear people talking better with my headphones and NC on than without. The headphones cancel much of the fan noise, to a greater dB level than the isolation from the headphones attenuates the voices.
eeZah7Ux 9y ago
Yes, and that makes things even worse. A constant background noise is unpleasant but not so distracting - and it gets filtered out. Sudden voices are way more distracting and they don't get filtered out. On the contrary, they stand out even more once machine noises are filtered out.

chx 9y ago

Talk is low frequency enough typically.

dx034 9y ago

I had Bose for a long time but now bought a much cheaper pair on Amazon (TaoTronic brand, £35). They work surprisingly well, without music voices are already much quieter and with music (on low volume), I cannot hear someone calling my name even when they're close to me. It's by far better than the 3yr old Bose NC headphones I had before (I can imagine today's Bose are at least on the same level though).

erik_seaberg 9y ago

I think it's the unpredictability more than the frequency range. Passive noise isolation always works but takes a lot of mass on your head. I'm on my second pair of HD 280 in about ten years because they're comfortable.

VLM 9y ago

"Wearing headphones will be treated as insubordination, management wants you participating in conversations". This was only slightly paraphrased from written policy at a former workplace. You have to show some political savvy; wearing headphones in a open office is exactly like being noticed playing games on your phone or sleeping while the CEO speaks at gathering, or making a big production of refusing to answer phone calls or questions from certain coworkers. There's a critical distinction of scale; if "they" don't want you working and prefer talking and distraction to the level that they bake it into the physical architecture of the office, that's really bad for the company on a large scale, but on a small scale trying civil disobedience by wearing headphones will just get you fired. Personally on the downside you're better off crashing the company than getting fired and on the upside the people responsible for the large scale operation of the company probably have quiet private offices anyway and aren't going to reward you for fixing the company anyway even if by some miracle you did it. Open offices are literally in the most straightforward sense a declaration the company has no idea what its doing so talking about it is a good first step. Cutting yourself off from that with headphones means they may as well not pay you. Civil disobedience in this case has no positive outcome; ditch the headphones.

NoiseMan88 9y ago

Disturbances from noise in office environments fall into 3 main frequency bands: low (ventilation/Ac), mid (conversations) and high (some parts of ventilation noise, some noise from office equipment). The most disturbing frequency band (on cognitive tasks) is probably the middle frequency, especially when the noise has "information" (language, tones, signals); but on a physiological level (directly affecting health (CNS function), performance and well-being it is the LOW frequencies that, albeit not cognitively disturbing at first, will have the greatest effect on a long-term perspective. Headphones/noise cancelling headphones are good a fixing problems in the mid/mid-high range but perform poorly in the low frequency range. My suggestion is this: your health comes first, no matter what. If you develop a noise-related disorder, you will under-perform and eventually get fired. I would do two things: use an app like SPLnFFT to document the noise level. Use a spectral analyzer to find out where the noise peaks are. ... then get proper in-ear hearing protection from an audiologist (comes in skin-colored, looks like an hearing aid). No-one can blame you for investing in your health to maintain your ability to perform, right? Literature: http://www.noiseandhealth.org/text.asp?2001/4/13/33/31803 http://www.noiseandhealth.org/text.asp?2001/4/13/33/31803 (K.P. Waye. Low frequency noise pollution interferes with performance)

geekbird 9y ago
Thank you for an occupational health viewpoint and the citation. Do you have a good recommendation for a recording dB meter and recording app suitable for graphing noise levels over a daylong period? Such a thing would be useful in proving the noise load of a busy open office and allow it to be compared to OSHA standards.