If you're at like a big-time gaming convention,
a concert, or a sporting event, it might be part of the experience, but
the incessant sound of a jet engine when you're on a plane can drive
you out of your mind.
So how do we control unwanted environmental noise without strapping pillows to our heads?
Active noise control a technology for reducing irritating background noise that most often appears in the consumer market as noise-canceling headphones.
Well, surprisingly, they actually block noise with more noise. Wait, what? How the heck does that work.
Although it might intuitively seem like canceling out noise with other noise doesn't make any sense.
The technology relies on what's actually a pretty straightforward principle of physics, even if you slept through your classes.
As you probably know, regardless of what kind of student you were, sound travels in waves and waves have peaks and troughs or valleys like you'd see if you were hanging out at the beach.
If two waves combined, they create a resulting wave that is basically the sum of the original two. So if you have two waves that meet so that the peaks of one wave end up precisely with the peaks of another, it'll actually dramatically increase the amplitude on the other hand.
If the peaks line up precisely with the troughs of the other, then we say they are out of phase, and the waves can cancel each other out.
So this principle is used by noise-canceling headphones by listening to the background noise with a dedicated microphone or and producing out of phase sound or anti-noise that literally destroys incoming sound waves before they reach your ears.
Combine this with special noise absorbing material built into the headphone cups in some models, and you've got some pretty serious sound isolation.
So if you want to pick up a pair of noise-canceling cans to help you focus at work or just block out the screaming kid that lives above you, what should you consider before forking over your cash to Cowin E8 or else.
Well, one of the biggest concerns with this kind of headphone is battery life. Unlike regular headphones, which usually just run off the power provided by your PC or smartphone or whatever else has a headphone jack.
Headphones with active noise control need a separate power source, usually a battery, so pay attention to this.
When you're looking through reviews, especially as some models won't mention at all how long it takes for the battery to die and whether you can continue to use them when they're not powered.
You should also consider how comfortable your new noise-canceling headphones will be because the extra electronics needed to mask outside sound does add excess weight and bulk, and a poorly designed pair of bulky headphones may not be comfortable for extended use.
And then finally for you, audiophiles out there don't expect the same kind of expansive soundstage as you would have expected from the open-back headphone as noise-canceling sets are closed to keep out as much ambient sound as possible.
Still, though many headphones with active noise control do offer solid sound quality.
Good thing too, as noise-canceling headphones do tend to be more expensive than their passive counterparts, so don't be completely put off with it even if it's not the kind of thing you would sit in your comfortable chair and listen to.
But what if you don't want to wear a pair of headphones to block out distracting sounds several companies are actually now making speakers that feature the same system.
Imagine that a speaker embedded in your car to drown out road-noise, we've even seen large-scale noise cancellation deployed at the Eurovision Song Contest to drown out crowds booing performers based on what country they're from a new application for sure. Still, I wouldn't expect to see it at your local football stadium anytime soon. Read More..
So how do we control unwanted environmental noise without strapping pillows to our heads?
Active noise control a technology for reducing irritating background noise that most often appears in the consumer market as noise-canceling headphones.
Well, surprisingly, they actually block noise with more noise. Wait, what? How the heck does that work.
Although it might intuitively seem like canceling out noise with other noise doesn't make any sense.
The technology relies on what's actually a pretty straightforward principle of physics, even if you slept through your classes.
As you probably know, regardless of what kind of student you were, sound travels in waves and waves have peaks and troughs or valleys like you'd see if you were hanging out at the beach.
If two waves combined, they create a resulting wave that is basically the sum of the original two. So if you have two waves that meet so that the peaks of one wave end up precisely with the peaks of another, it'll actually dramatically increase the amplitude on the other hand.
If the peaks line up precisely with the troughs of the other, then we say they are out of phase, and the waves can cancel each other out.
So this principle is used by noise-canceling headphones by listening to the background noise with a dedicated microphone or and producing out of phase sound or anti-noise that literally destroys incoming sound waves before they reach your ears.
Combine this with special noise absorbing material built into the headphone cups in some models, and you've got some pretty serious sound isolation.
So if you want to pick up a pair of noise-canceling cans to help you focus at work or just block out the screaming kid that lives above you, what should you consider before forking over your cash to Cowin E8 or else.
Well, one of the biggest concerns with this kind of headphone is battery life. Unlike regular headphones, which usually just run off the power provided by your PC or smartphone or whatever else has a headphone jack.
Headphones with active noise control need a separate power source, usually a battery, so pay attention to this.
When you're looking through reviews, especially as some models won't mention at all how long it takes for the battery to die and whether you can continue to use them when they're not powered.
You should also consider how comfortable your new noise-canceling headphones will be because the extra electronics needed to mask outside sound does add excess weight and bulk, and a poorly designed pair of bulky headphones may not be comfortable for extended use.
And then finally for you, audiophiles out there don't expect the same kind of expansive soundstage as you would have expected from the open-back headphone as noise-canceling sets are closed to keep out as much ambient sound as possible.
Still, though many headphones with active noise control do offer solid sound quality.
Good thing too, as noise-canceling headphones do tend to be more expensive than their passive counterparts, so don't be completely put off with it even if it's not the kind of thing you would sit in your comfortable chair and listen to.
But what if you don't want to wear a pair of headphones to block out distracting sounds several companies are actually now making speakers that feature the same system.
Imagine that a speaker embedded in your car to drown out road-noise, we've even seen large-scale noise cancellation deployed at the Eurovision Song Contest to drown out crowds booing performers based on what country they're from a new application for sure. Still, I wouldn't expect to see it at your local football stadium anytime soon. Read More..
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