How Do Noise Cancelling Headphones Work?

With the need to tune out your chatty office mate or snoring neighbor on a 6 hour airplane ride, you’ve decided its time for a solution. You’ve heard of magical headsets that will put noisy nuisances on a temporary pause, but wonder… “How do noise cancelling headphones work?” We’ve got your answers here.

How Do Noise Cancelling Headphones Work?

Your active noise cancelling headphones are built with a tiny microphone in the ear cup. This microphone is able to pick up ambient noise in your environment (i.e. chatty office mate or snoring airplane passenger). Circuitry inside of the headphones determine the frequency and amplitude of the soundwave created by your surrounding environment and create an inverse wave. The waves cancel each other out which greatly reduces the background noise you are hearing. Be advised, you can not completely cancel out all ambient noise. That would be sorcery. However, this circuitry is built into headphones for a reason. With the addition of music, white noise, or whatever you choose to pump through your cans, you can completely mask sounds that are irritating to you, allowing you to focus on your work or sleep. Yay!

You may have also heard the term passive noise cancelling. This refers to the barrier created by your ear cups or ear tips and the amount of sound that it keeps from interfering with your music. Passive sound isolation is similar, attributed to the amount of your music that is retained within your earphones and does not leak out for your neighbors to hear.

Hope that clears up all your burning questions, primarily the question “How do noise cancelling headphones work?” But, if you are still scratching your head, leave your questions and concerns below so we can get back to you. Also, learn more about the best Bluetooth earbuds with noise cancelling here 🙂