Noise Cancelling Headphones

Headphones with active noise cancelling electronics that help reduce external sounds - ideal for travelling or listening in noisy environments.

Active noise cancelling headphones make use of a small microphone to pickup ambient noise. This signal is processed by some very clever electronics where it's inverted and summed with the audio signal being delivered to your ears. The end effect is that the background noise is cancelled out!

Sound isolating headphones achieve a similar effect to noise cancelling headphones, but they don't use any electronics and instead block external sounds by sealing inside your ear.

Noise cancelling headphones are particularly good at blocking out low frequency sounds, such as the low-end rumble created inside an airplane cabin, but are not so good at eliminating inconsistent, higher frequency background sounds.