noise canceling headphones???

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Son sometimes gets distracted during school work when people are talking or there are extra sounds in the environment. He is really intense about his school work.

Suggestions? What about noise canceling headphones. If so, what kind. There are a lot of horrible kinds out there that make high pitched noise from what I heard. I am thinking of ones with a white noise.

I think putty for years would be too annoying considering his sensory difficulties. I have sensory difficulties and that would be annoying to me as well.

I think noise canceling headphones are a good idea. I am looking into getting some myself, so I am still doing some research, so for the time being, I always have a fan going for the white-noise and I am listening to internet radio, classical music or talk.

the kind I have make very subtle white noise and drown out a lot of background noise.
it's really impressive how they work.

If there's a GOOD retail store near where you live, like a Tweeter, Bang & Olufson or Sony Style, they can demonstrate them to you.

You will be hooked!! I use a pair on my ipod when I head out, it drowns out the cellphone 'chirps' and talking that I always hear while on the bus. It also drowns out the motor noise.

We don't have any of those stores around here. What about Best Buy or some general store like that?The ones on Skymall.com are $399.00. That is a lot of money.

I have the audio-technica 'quiet point' they are supposed to be as good as the Bose 2 but not as expensive. The Bose 3 are supposed to have the best noise cancellation, but because there are more slimline they have less big cans so therefore don't have much traditional noise isolation. I think you need a combination of the two IMO. Personally, I prefer the larger cans for comfort, and A-T wins on that front.

If you want to know what it is like to be in near total noise isolation you have to go to a noise proof room. But expect to fall over and be sick when they close the door.

Noise cancellation isn't perfect. It won't cancel screaming children, because screaming children aren't a predictable waveform (usually). It will cancel some of the repetitive sounds, and take the edge off some more. It also has its own sound, which is audible if you have sensitive hearing. This may or may not be annoying. It also may be mare audible if the cancelling is misalign in which case you reset by switching it on and off.

My friend let me try his noise cancelling headphones once (Sony, I think). They did silence a lot of background noise, but also degraded the sound quality a bit.

Hi;

I think we should distinguish between different sorts of headphones:-

- there are the "active" noise cancelling phones that make a sound that is out of phase to the noise coming in. These can work very well with low pitched sounds (like aircraft engine noise). For technical reasons, they are not very good at keeping out sounds at speech pitch, or higher.

I don't think this type would be helpful, if the problem is of being distracted by speech.

- there are "passive" earphones, a bit like ear plugs with good quality speakers built into them. These are probably best for keeping out sound of all types, but they have to go deep into the ear canal, which some people find uncomfortable.

I can be very distracted by people's chatter etc. myself.

I did once experiment with making a long (over an hour) mp3 of white noise, and playing it through normal earphones. In the end, I just found foam earplugs work best for me, though.

I have some of the 'passive' kind that Timpani was talking about, and they're fantastic. You can still hear, but it does stop a lot of background noise and what I term 'distracting' frequencies and dulls the noise of background chatter and mobiles etc. I used to use them in class a lot at school with something relaxing on very quietly (Sigur Rós was always my favourite, youtube them if you don't know them because your son might like 'em!) and it helped enormously. Mine weren't the most expensive but they do the job well enough for me, and I have hearing sensitive to high-pitched electrical noises. Think they were about 40pounds UK.

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/04/f ... _nois.html

Here is the one mentioned above:

http://www.21st-century-goods.com/page/ ... D/NBPA4000

and a less-expensive one by the same company:

http://www.21st-century-goods.com/page/21st/PROD/NB

Both are excellent; recommend the earmuff style.
In-the-ear devices may cause hearing loss in the long run.

"Noise-cancelling" headphones don't block or muffle all background noise, they just smooth out the acoustic spikes (this is what "noise" means to sound engineers). The only use I have for them is on small planes. They're great at muffling the whiny roar of turboprop engines.

I'd suggest a white noise generator (WNG) with headphones. I got one ten years ago and find it invaluable in libraries, airports and planes. It also allows me to read at home when my upstairs neighbors have their TV on a little too loud. "White noise" is particularly effective at muffling the frequencies of human speech.
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"Civilization is a limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessaries." -- Mark Twain

i used to live next to train tracks so i purchased a soundspa. and i gotta say it did me right, my favorite noises was white noise and the ocean

I was here to talk about noise canceling headphones with a similar issue with neighbors. Had intended to start a new thread, but then decided to use this old one as the basic problem is the same. My 5 year old son finds it really hard to concentrate on his daily lessons as the noise level from outside is beyond what he can take in. We complained quite a few times without any use. Legally we're not in a position to do anything and hence the only alternative we have is to find a practical solution. I wouldn't mind splashing the cash as long as the problem is fixed. I've heard quite a lot about noise canceling headphones such as Bose QC 25 Acoustic headphones: https://baybloorradio.com/headphones/no ... comfort-25 but haven't used one till date. Is this a good enough option or is there something I can do otherwise?