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Question about Active Noise Cancellation alternatives (fedia.io)

submitted 6 months ago by downpunxx@fedia.io to c/technology@lemmy.world

31 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I've got a audio/tech question, maybe someone here might have some insight into.

I'm in need of noise cancellation for various and sundry reasons. i own a pair of BOSE ANC headphones which are tits, but have been looking for a pair of GOOD ANC earbuds that don't cost $300 bucks, and had an idea that all ANC appears to be, when you break it down, is sound that the earphones/earbuds produce which bounce around in the ear canal and hit the ear drum in certain ways as to "cancel" out various types of background noise.

Again the ANC on my BOSE are amazing. Does anyone know, or have even heard of (no pun intended) anyone who has produced "noise cancelling" sound files?

It seems as if noise cancelling hardware like earphones are producing sounds that cancel out noise, mp3/flac files of "noise cancelling" sound could be on offer somewhere.

Dunno, figured i'd ask. Hope this is the right place to do that, and I'm not breaking any rules, I didn't know where else to post this.

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[–] SuperJakish@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

There have been a lot of ANC responses focusing on the A (active) part. There are two parts to nose cancellation: active and passive. I agree ANC are sweet and all... The other comments have that covered.

If you're interested in exploring a potentially low cost alternative to expensive ANR headphones or earbuds... Know that there are two parts to noise cancelling: active and passive. Passive nose cancelling is how much the headphones or earbuds reduce the outside noise before the active part needs to step in.

SO, an option I haven't seen discussed yet would be to get some standard low cost earbuds and get some over-ear ear muffs to put around them.

Edit: literacy is for everyone... I didn't see the bit about using this for sleep. Over ear muffs plus earbuds wouldn't be very comfortable. Another option might be just finding some noise sounds you prefer over the nose you like. There are different standard noises... White noise, pink noise, brown noise... These might help make the frequency of unwanted sound your looking to block. This is a link related to noise colors after a quick search: https://www.hatch.co/blog/exploring-color-noises-for-better-sleep-with-hatch

[–] quinkin@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

Along these lines though when I did a lot of wood cutting I would buy the foam ear plugs, cut them shorter then use a hole punch to create a centre through hole that fit my earbuds. Replacing the stock rubber/silicon pads.

I would then compress the ear plugs with my fingers like you normally would and slip the earbuds in.

I would guess the earplugs efficacy was slightly reduced but it let me listen to music and podcasts while slinging a chainsaw for hours at a time without having to have ear damaging sound levels. I always used a helmet and earmuffs over the top for extra isolation.

[–] downpunxx@fedia.io 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

thanks, if they only made hatch sleep earbuds (which also work as regular earbuds normally) i'd order them today. bose makes a pair of sleep earbuds, but they're like 300 bucks, and they don't cancel sound so much as play prerecorded sleeping sounds (seemingly like these hatch speakers do, which i can't image work anywhere near as well as in in ear canal solution), and the bose "sleeps" or whatever can't be used as normal earbuds to watch tv or listen to music or make phone calls, so, yeah, but appreciate the thoughtful response

[–] kender242@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

Have you looked into bone conduction headphones?

Fidelity goes up (!) when you plug your ears. I use them in server rooms and on my bike (sans the earplugs).

Aftershocks is a good brand, basically anything with a titanium band.