Is Noise Canceling Bad for Your Ears?

Noise-canceling headphones are now widely used, raising health concerns. Indeed, good noise-canceling headphones are a pleasant escape from a busy environment. Sometimes it feels so good to block out all the unnecessary distractions of everyday life.

You've probably considered buying headphones with noise-canceling features to end the daily battle between your headphones and the sounds around you. However, those who have experienced the negative effects of noise-canceling headphones are not convinced. These experiences have raised concerns about the safety and limitations of the use of noise reduction.

Before deciding whether noise canceling is safe, let's understand how noise-canceling headphones work. And read below for some questions about noise-canceling headphones.

Either Passive Noise Cancellation (PNC) or Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) is used in headphones. To understand how they work, read the following sections.

Most headphones use passive noise cancellation (PNC). Around-ear and around-ear PNC headphones use certain materials to isolate sound from the ear. Sealed earcups on the PNC earphones prevent sound from seeping in or out, while memory foam reduces annoying sounds.

PNC headphones are ideal for short bursts of high-frequency noise such as police sirens, barking dogs, screaming children, car horns, etc. However, since PNC headphones only physically filter out external noise rather than cancel it, a more appropriate name would be "sound-isolating" headphones.

Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) is a technology that uses electricity to cancel out surrounding sounds. ANC starts with a small microphone that samples the background noise around you. For example, if you are sitting in a loud coffee shop, the microphone will pick up the sound waves produced by the ambient sound of the busy coffee shop. These sound waves are actually pressure waves traveling through the air at a given frequency.

The sampled audio is then routed through the microphone to a battery-powered noise-canceling system in the earphones. The system then inverts it, generating an inverted signal of the original signal. Finally, play the opposite signal through the headphones.

In short, ANC headphones emit frequencies that cancel out the background noise around you. All this extra craftsmanship and smart technology make ANC headphones better at noise cancellation than PNC headphones. However, the overall quality of a headset depends on how well its internal systems are built and integrated.

Noise-canceling headphones are safe. ANC was created to protect pilots' hearing from aircraft engine noise. Noise-canceling headphones can prevent hearing loss and reduce noise-related stress. With ANC, noise is reduced, music is clearer, and users no longer need to turn up the volume.

This is especially important for people with sensitive hearing and children, who are more likely to develop hearing problems if they are constantly exposed to noise. That's why other hearing protection features like noise-canceling headphones for kids and volume limiters exist.

Plus, noise-canceling headphones can reduce the stress of outside noise. This tension or stress can lead to high blood pressure, gastritis, and headaches. Therefore, using noise-canceling headphones is a great way to relieve tension and improve your health.

Despite their obvious advantages, noise-canceling headphones are unbeknownst to, or wrongly believed by, many people to be harmful. Let's review some of the most common misconceptions about noise-canceling headphones.

Common problems associated with noise-canceling headphones include jaw pain, migraines, dizziness, and ear pressure. Ear pressure is especially similar to the experience of ascending flight.

When we take off on an airplane, we experience pressure in our ears due to changes in the density of the air inside and outside our ears. When the air inside the ear is denser, the inner ear vibrates less, causing you to experience fewer low-frequency sounds.

As we all know, noise-canceling headphones use ANC technology, and we know that ANC headphones will filter out low-frequency sounds. So even if you're just gaming at home with noise-canceling headphones, your brain may sense changes in pressure that can lead to headaches and pressure in your ears.

Some people don't experience symptoms while wearing noise-canceling headphones. Meanwhile, others only wear them for a few hours a day before feeling the need to take them off. Unfortunately, there is currently no "cure" for this. People experiencing these symptoms have no choice but to purchase PNC headsets.

Tinnitus is a persistent ringing or buzzing in the ears that becomes more noticeable when there is no external background noise. It's a disease that affects people of all ages and can be triggered by anything that damages or interferes with the sensitive inner structures of the ear.

Many people report tinnitus from using noise-canceling headphones, although there is no scientific evidence for a relationship between tinnitus and noise-canceling headphones. A plausible theory for the tinnitus sensation might be due to the enhanced noise cancellation of ANC headphones.

In fact, noise-canceling headphones are recommended for tinnitus sufferers and for tinnitus prevention. This is because effective ambient noise cancellation minimizes the need for the wearer to raise the volume of the earphones in noisy environments, thereby preventing or reducing future episodes of tinnitus.

Noise-canceling headphones pose no danger to your health or your brain, so you can wear them anytime. Because they don't emit low-level radiation compared to cell phones, you can use headphones to filter out background noise and they won't endanger your health or safety in any way.

In most cases, noise-canceling headphones are worn in a similar way to glasses. However, there is some evidence that wearing headphones for extended periods of time may reduce your ability to localize sounds.

It depends on the actual situation. If you're going to be driving or jogging in a crowded area, you shouldn't use noise cancellation.

In conclusion, neither passive nor active noise cancellation will affect your hearing health in any way. If you want to buy headphones with noise-canceling functions, please contact us. Getting a pair of noise-canceling headphones can help you filter out the noise without causing any damage to your hearing.

JUNYE is a professional custom earphone manufacturer. We provide one-stop service, design-development-production, and shipping. With more than 400 employees and 60,000 square meters of factory buildings, it specializes in OEM/ODM. We have our own mold center and the whole industry chain: hardware, injection molding, wire, cushion, assembly, and packaging. It has 8 production lines, including two professional TWS lines. We manufacture each part in-house to ensure quality and on-time delivery.