> You don't have to actually drown out the ambient noise; you just have to put enough sound that you control into it such that your brain is lulled into ignorin

> You don't have to actually drown out the ambient noise; you just have to put enough sound that you control into it such that your brain is lulled into ignoring the totality of sound around you. That depends on who is using the headphones. I can't not pay attention to any sound I hear. My brain is very good at filtering discrete signals out of backgrounds.