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Something worth noting - that fatigue some folks are noticing in their ears from ANC is probably a symptom of hearing damage. It’s much like how your ears feel

Something worth noting - that fatigue some folks are noticing in their ears from ANC is probably a symptom of hearing damage. It’s much like how your ears feel “stuffy” after a rock concert - you get most of it back, but not all. ref. https://www.asoundeffect.com/how-to-protect-your-hearing/ https://www.asoundeffect.com/how-to-protect-your-hearing/ Rememeber, ANC is blasting the equivalent energy of your outside environment into your ears, but ideally in an inverted phase. I say ideally, because it’s based off a median set of ears (much like how a lot of stereo mixing does). The problem comes since if your ears are far from that median, you may be getting increased sound pressure due to interference in the wrong direction.

Reason077 5y ago
I don't see how that can be the case if the ANC is working correctly. By inverting the waveform that the headphones "hear", it cancels out what your ears hear to near-zero. If it's actually increasing sound pressure, surely you'd hear that in the form of loud unwelcome sounds (unless it's happening only at inaudible frequencies?) One of the first applications for ANC headphones was in military headsets - specifically designed to reduce the risk of hearing damage/loss to crews operating in very loud environments (such as the M1 Abrams Tank!)
- falcolas 5y ago
  I’m sure that if your ears are in the median shape/size/sensitivity, they work perfectly well. But not everybody is. There was a whole discussion in the past about how Dolby Atmos doesn’t work for some people, for the exact same reason. The purpose of my comment is to say “If ANC is fatiguing your ears, stop using it”. It’s a sign of problems; of ANC not working properly for you.
himaraya 5y ago
You'll need a timestamp for your source mentioning noise cancelling. ANC damaging hearing sounds like nonsense to me. IEMs commonly result in similar sensations of pressure, even at safe listening levels.
- falcolas 5y ago
  It's not "ANC causes hearing damage", it's "ANC causes ringing and fatigue of the ears for some people, which are signs of hearing damage". "Some people" is a set which the author identifies himself as, as well as others in this thread.

Reason077 5y ago

I don't see how that can be the case if the ANC is working correctly. By inverting the waveform that the headphones "hear", it cancels out what your ears hear to near-zero. If it's actually increasing sound pressure, surely you'd hear that in the form of loud unwelcome sounds (unless it's happening only at inaudible frequencies?) One of the first applications for ANC headphones was in military headsets - specifically designed to reduce the risk of hearing damage/loss to crews operating in very loud environments (such as the M1 Abrams Tank!)

falcolas 5y ago
I’m sure that if your ears are in the median shape/size/sensitivity, they work perfectly well. But not everybody is. There was a whole discussion in the past about how Dolby Atmos doesn’t work for some people, for the exact same reason. The purpose of my comment is to say “If ANC is fatiguing your ears, stop using it”. It’s a sign of problems; of ANC not working properly for you.

himaraya 5y ago

You'll need a timestamp for your source mentioning noise cancelling. ANC damaging hearing sounds like nonsense to me. IEMs commonly result in similar sensations of pressure, even at safe listening levels.

falcolas 5y ago
It's not "ANC causes hearing damage", it's "ANC causes ringing and fatigue of the ears for some people, which are signs of hearing damage". "Some people" is a set which the author identifies himself as, as well as others in this thread.