Noise canceling headphones

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I've got two questions about them. I'm thinking of buying a pair, but I'm quite poor. So, first question: Does anyone know about a brand that's both affordable and functional?

Second question: I've heard that using noise canceling headphones could make you even more sensitive to sounds when you're not wearing them. If that's the case, maybe the headphones aren't the best solution for this problem? Any experiences with this?


Thanks y'all!

Embla

I use these: http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/e ... 473&rt=rud at home and these: http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/headp ... index.html in public transport. The latter don't cancel so much of the noise but enough to lower the underground train noise below my threshold of pain. And having audio earbuds in public transport looks perfectly normal so nobody is making any fuss about it.
The former cancel much more, I wear them when even the sound of falling tap water makes my head ache. There are days like this.

I don't wear them all the time, just in certain situations when either the noise is bigger or my tollerance lower. My friend says it makes me calmer. I didn't notice this kind of use made me less tolerant. Maybe more aware but the sensitivity is all the time the same. Maybe if you wore them for all the day your sensitivity could increase but occasional use does not influence it much.

When new, foam earplugs are as good as those passive cans. I have tried "white noise generators" to block the bass thumping from a party, and the necessary volume was too much. It is hard to block the irritating component and keep the soothing "normal" ambience.

I got a pair for like 10 USD. There pretty good.

Cans don't make your ear bacteria multiply like in-ear gear, but they are tough to wear when sleeping. I bought the cheapest noise-cancelling cans I could find a decade ago, and they didn't really reduce the sound, just smeared it somewhat into white noise.

I have noise cancelling headphones and my experience is that they do help somewhat with noise. Being more sensitive to noise afterwards I think depends on the person and I would be one of them that do become more sensitive to the noise when I take them off.

I would use earplugs but they feel uncomfortable overtime and I fear that they might block sound too much and cause me not to hear oncoming traffic.(Such as someone speeding). Had an experience once when I was listening to my MP3 player while walking and almost ran into a parked car, luckily the person in it blew the horn before I hit it! It's a good thing I wasn't on the street!

Before buying the noise canceling headphones, you can try wearing earplugs or listening to something through earbuds underneath ear defenders.

Rather than pay huge sums for noise-canceling headphones, I embarked on a bit of a project and bastardised a cheap pair of 3M ear defenders (http://www.safetyshop.com/3m-peltor-optime-iii-ear-muffs-35db.html) by adding the drivers and wiring from some relatively cheap but high-quality Koss headphones (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Koss-Porta-Ear-Stereo-Headphones-Black/dp/B005I497OI). It looks a bit strange so only wear in the house but it cuts out all noise and lets me relax.

I wish earplugs worked for me.