Earbuds: Noise Cancelling versus Noise Blocking

Active noise canceling is what we know from Bose headphones that are sold to block out the sound of the jet engine when we fly. These work well in eliminating sounds that are of a certain type. A jet engine is a constant sound that has a consistent frequency. Noise canceling detects the sound, produces a sound that essential is the same but out of phase with the incoming sound, and this effectively cancels the sound. Other sounds, like voices which change in pitch and frequency, are not as effectively canceled. So the bottom line in active noise canceling is it works well for certain situations: jet engine noise, the hum of traffic drifting in from a window, the hum of servers in a room with racks of computers, and other such situations. Find out more about how active noise canceling works.

This is nothing more than creating a good enough blockage in your ear so that sound does not get through to your eardrum. Typically this is accomplished well with an earphone that goes into your ear canal. It must too form a good seal to work the way you want. In some cases noise isolating or noise blocking are better than noise canceling earbuds.

This depends on your situation. There are some people that travel on planes a lot, or commute on the bus or train everyday, that really benefit and enjoy having active noise canceling. Others can't stand that there is still a lot of other noises to be heard with noise canceling.

Noise blocking is nice for getting rid of voices so if you are on a bus or in some similar situation, you might want to get rid of the phone conversation that is going on just over your shoulder. Effective noise blocking earbuds should be able to really dampen down or eliminate those types of intrusions. Some people do not though want to totally eliminate human voices as they feel they need to be able to respond if someone decides to talk to them directly. Others are more than happy to make themselves totally oblivious.

Now that you know a bit more you should be able to make a more informed decision about what kind of earbuds to buy. Here are some things to consider, and realize this may not be an either or situation.

You could choose a model of earbuds that have noise canceling and noise blocking capabilities.

Since active noise canceling produces sound, it needs a power source and some people do not want to have such a thing attached to their earbuds.

As mentioned, noise blocking may effectively isolate you and you will not hear someone talking to you if you are out in public.

It is easier to produce an effective noise blocking earbud than a noise canceling earbud. If you want more bang for your buck, it may be better to go the sound isolating route.

So that's it! I hope this helped and good luck hunting for you new set of earbuds.