Best Noise-Cancelling Headphones for Tinnitus Sufferers?

Hello Guys,

I want to buy some noise cancelling headphones for when I start school this upcoming Monday.

 

I don't use headphones anymore.

But I know Bose are a quality brand.

 

I have the Sony WH1000XM2 noise-cancelling headphones and they are comfortable to my ears.

 

Bose are known to be effective. I have a pair that I use regularly. The good news about NC is you can listen to your content without having to crank up the volume to compete with external sounds, so you can give your ears a rest with low-volume content.

 

Bose QuietComfort 25 are great. But they weren't designed to help with sudden noises. So they might not provide good protection against slamming doors, fire alarms, yells, etc. Consider using 3M earplugs.

 

Hi all,

I am thinking of purchasing noise cancelling headphones. Which is the best model?

I would love to hear experiences with noise cancelling headphones. Are they better than earmuffs for flying?

Thanks!

 

The best model is a matter of opinion, such as comfort and features that you want. If you want a luxury model, it will probably cost quite a bit. I did not want this type, at this time.

I purchased my first N/C headphones a few weeks ago. My criteria was that less is more and simpler is better, as I did not want to use it for listening to music, just for the N/C effect on the subway and when exposed to loud droning sounds such as machines, drilling or other power tools, my cheap food processor, etc.. This led me to purchase a pair of Chinese made TaoTronics on Amazon, which are very popular and sometimes sell out on that site. They cost a fraction of the price of the premium brands, but do the job. I use earplugs underneath them, for extra protection, on the subway. I have not used them on an airplane.

Here is a thread I recently started, that you may find interesting. https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...-headphones-without-the-high-price-tag.34901/

 

Right I’m going to take the plunge - sirens galore, it’s crazy around here. The epicentre of noise pollution has to be West London.
I’m having one too many noise accidents.

Brief:
- the headphones need to look cool so not too bulky. I’m thinking yummy mummy look.
- I don’t care about sound quality because I won’t be playing anything
- the best noise protection for sirens and all London noise
- well priced

Any advice?

 

Why not earplugs?

Some have reported worsening of their tinnitus from noise canceling headphones... but I’m not sure if there is a connection.

I don’t know how well noise canceling headphones would be for a siren since noise canceling usually combats sound only up to about 3 kHz.

 

Thanks, plugs are causing me problems and as I have had a cold and get ETD I think they could be making things worse...

 

My 2 cents worth.

My tinnitus is mostly noise aggravated. This is where noise-canceling (NC) headphones help. Since the onset of my T came on in my 60's is it likely age related among other things. That means I would be living with it for the foreseeable future. What follows is my personal experience which may vary from what other experience as we know that tinnitus is individual and has complex pathologies.

Fed up with always seeking refuge from noisy environments such as riding in our noisy diesel buses (up to 75dB interior) and city noise. I checked out the various NC headphones. I rotated through several brands in the shop for an hour, went home came back the next day and rotated again. They are expensive so I needed to be sure I would get the ones I could live with. The Bose QC-35's won over, especially for comfort over my ears. I can wear them for hours.

Some caveats with NC headphones:

They are good at canceling the kind of throbbing, rumbling mid to low range noise you hear in traffic, inside public transport vehicles, cars, planes and industrial noise but somewhat less so the higher frequencies like loud bangs, sirens and (eg baby) squeals etc. Human voice is in the mid range and is not filtered as efficiently so you can surprisingly carry on a conversation while blocking the other noise. Wearing NC headphones also suppresses much city environmental noise and makes it possible for me to get from shop to shop without stress. It is quite alarming when you temporarily switch off the headphones hear the flood of throbbing noise that relentlessly washes over the city environs. Some shops and offices I visit however are quiet enough that I can temporarily remove the headphones.

Many have commented that wearing NC headphones increases your T. And there is some truth to this in that blocking ambient noise stimulus to the ears can cause the neural response to compensate by increasing the T sensation. But in my experience shortly after I remove the NC headphones the ambient noise soon forces the T to retreat into the background as before. I recall a research experiment (referenced on this forum somewhere) where university students wore an earplug in one ear for a week and T manifested in that ear. It disappeared soon after the experiment. Seems nature abhors a vacuum, even in tinnitus!

Another caveat which some of you may have experienced is continuous vibration inside a road vehicle can also deliver acoustic vibrations via your spine to your auditory system internally rather than externally aggravating T. NC headphone cannot suppress internal aggravation as they are designed to suppress external noise.

NC headphones of course can work to some degree in noisy parties and sport arenas. However these environments have broad spectrum of noise. The lower to mid frequencies will be suppressed but less so mid to high frequencies. And the noise is continuous - often for hours. But again you may have a different response than me. I do however often feel self conscious if I wear NC headphones in social gatherings (with noise levels often in the 70-80 dB range) as I look "anti social" (Yes, I do sometimes carry a noise meter with me). Bose do have earbud versions which look less obvious but these are expensive too and I have yet to try them. Vendors are reluctant to offer customers a try for hygienic purposes.

In all NC headphones have improved my quality of life. I suffer less noise aggravated T when I wear the NC headphones in the kind of noisy environments I frequent. Friends and family have adapted to my wearing them when I need to given I have educated them and they know about my T condition.

Martin

 

Try standard passive muffs... better for the sirens IMO, and some NC don’t even give advertise that passive specification for passive ratings instead relying on the electronics. In other words, many NC headphones have very little passive to block higher frequencies....again most NC headsets worth from 1500-3000hz.

 

Given your requirements, I think what you're looking for are ear muffs, not NC headphones. Thankfully, they are much cheaper.

 

Random thought - wouldn't it be great if the sight of people wearing ear defenders in noisy cities became as common as that of people wearing face masks in certain countries?

Word of warning - wearing n/c headphones whilst exposed to piercing acoustic feedback made my "good" ear go temporarily deaf with a burning sensation for half an hour, leaving me with permanent tonal tinnitus in that ear which multiplies into a glass orchestra when I yawn or turn over in bed. I would have been better with plugs underneath or with ear defenders instead. I did have a foam plug in my bad ear which was unaffected.

I was early in my tinnitus journey and I didn't know better.

 

Given the higher frequencies 1000 hz plus have a wavelength of 30cm or less there can be a perceptible phase difference between left and right ear (separated around 20 cm) when your head is turned side on to the direction of sound. Cancellation is less efficient. When I turn my head with NCs relative to a source the the higher frequency component can shift from left to right or back. often in the opposite direction from the source of the sound. Just a curiousity.

Martin

 

Yes exposure to any high frequency acoustic feedback at close range is perilous, with or without NC headphones. I have worn earplugs under the NCs as an experiment and it does indeed "take care" of the HF range. Though this makes the over all suppression of noise even more efficient than before and it makes my tinnitus even more apparent in the enhanced silence. But at least for me I know when I remove the NCs (and ear plugs) the ambient environ noise causes the tinnitus to retreat into the background again.

Martin

 

Thanks guys, I’ll check them out Martin. I have ear muffs but there is no way I’m picking up the kids from school in those!!

I already look a bit over the top with my ear plugs

Shame about the higher frequency noise. But does it cancel it a bit or not at all? Say a screaming kid or an ambulance?

 

I’ve had to wear mine. Definitely get the strange looks from other parents.

 

I just tried out a few NC aviation headsets and the passive protection is not advertised. NC is great for low rumbling, but not great for sirens and kids screaming... try some out and then return them if they don’t do what you expect.

I have worn NC headsets with earplugs for years... recently there was a pilot questioning the NC’s 16k side tone worsening tinnitus on this forum... I wear earplugs under NC... even half earplugs or musician earplugs of 10 dB.

How does anyone even notice you have earplugs in? If you cut them down you don’t need to have yellow bananas sticking out of your ears... lol.

Do you have hyperacusis? I hate wearing any protection and hearing my tinnitus scream even more... but when I’m out and about I do.

You feel the need for hearing protection in the car?

 

I live in such a noisy area where we have planes over us every 3 minutes and sirens at least once a day. This city is noisy so want to avoid further damage, it’s piece of mind.

 

Oh no, I get it. My advice is worth about $.02, just personal experiences.

If you feel you can go back to ear plugs in the future... so much better IMO.

I’m at an indoor sports meet... balloon drop, young kids... even though I was 100 yards away... had 1/2 plugs in. Wouldn’t you know... 20 min after the balloon drop some kids out of nowhere, start popping balloons 5 ft away. Smh.

 

Yes the higher frequencies are suppressed, just not as much as the lower ones. Though I suspect the high frequencies are repressed naturally more due to the surround muffs of QC-35 rather than by the electronics.

I also have standard trade ear muffs . They suppress noise fairly evenly across the spectrum. But they are not that good at killing interior passenger plane roar nor car interior noise nor the doof-doof of music sound system (big issues for me). The QC-35s are superior in this regard.

Martin

 

I have a pair of under-$100 noise cancellation knockoffs that are fine, as long as I wear plugs under them in very loud environments such as subways. There is no way I'm going to pay 3X-5X as much for Sony or Bose, my Brand X pair is probably just as good, for noise cancellation, as the premium brands are. They don't look bad, either.

Got these (below), last Spring, and I'm more than satisfied with the N/C. I do not listen to music with them at all.

They're on sale, for considerably less than I paid:

https://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics-C...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

 

Luman

If you can get away with it good on you. I tried some cheapo Aldi $50 NC's which were effective too. But after 1/2 an hour the pads were pressing and hurting my ears. No good on long haul flights! The high end brands have cushions that surround the morphology ears and leave them alone. And the Bose QC-35's were the best choice for the morphology of my ears. That's why I thought to myself. I will be living with them a long time and they got to be comfy. I want to buy NC's only once.

 

That's great, as long as you're satisfied. I have no idea how the Plantronics would feel after many hours, it's very possible that I wouldn't like them, either. there might be a way to modify them, such as using replacement earpads made for name brand cans, but that's not a project that I plan on undertaking anytime soon.

 

Inexpensive ear pads for Bose QC's. Maybe you can use them to modify yours. I bought some as backup replacements. Have not fitted them yet but they look and feel to the touch like the originals.

One caveat is that the Bose have slanted speaker grills to accommodate the angular slant of ears so that they don't touch them.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2Pcs-Re...244841?hash=item2f04b21de9:g:p54AAOSw~FJZLof0

 

Will noise cancelling headphones help with reactive tinnitus?? I listen to regular headphones and they don't affect my tinnitus.

 

I don't know what reactive tinnitus is, some claim it exists, others say that it's another word for hyperacusis. I don't think that N/C headphones will help with that. The only reason I use them is to cancel out low frequency sounds from machines such as blenders and vacuum cleaners, etc. and the subway. With very loud noise, such as riding on the subway, I use earplugs, as well as the n/c phones.

I do not listen to music on these, or any other, headphones, anymore, it's too dangerous but that is a personal choice. I use speakers at home, and to be honest, they're better than headphones, and I've owned some of the best non noise-cancelling headphones ever made, which I sold.

 

There is no such thing as Reactive Tinnitus. This term was made up in tinnitus forums around 15 years ago and is frequently discussed in them. Tinnitus can react to sound but often this is caused by oversensitivity to the auditory system. People that complain of reactive tinnitus often have noise induced tinnitus that has caused hyperacusis. Pain is not always felt with this condition as it can vary in severity between people.

Some in the medical field have latched on to Reactive tinnitus and have said it is a separate condition to hyperacusis and is treatable using sound therapy: white noise generators I presume. Their recommendation is to treat the RT first then the hyperacusis, also using white noise generators. Whoever want to believe this rubbish I wish them well. I will not be so easily persuaded, since I have a lot of experience with Noise induced tinnitus and hyperacusis, as @Luman and others in this forum.

Since your tinnitus was not Noise induced, this is probably the reason you are able to use headphones without it affecting your tinnitus. However, I still advise caution.

I wish you well.
Michael

 

I really like AirPods pros. An added advantage is if you are a iPhone user you can put a max limit on sound level and it keeps track of how loud and long you've been listening to it. It reports whether your use is considered safe or not.