ANC headphones use tiny microphones to pick up external noise--from an AC hum or a car engine to the sound of a person talking around you. Then a speaker inside the headphones inverts these soundwaves and pumps them into your ears as neutralizing "anti-noise" waves. This technology can be very useful in noisy environments, such as a flight or a busy coffee shop. However, it does have some limitations. https://boosty.to/bestheadphoness What is ANC? ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) is a popular headphone feature that can be found in a wide range of headphones. It can be used to block low-frequency sound – such as traffic – so that the listener can enjoy their music more without being disturbed by other sounds around them. However, getting ANC to work well is more than simply dumping some tech inside your headphones and slapping "ANC" on the packaging. It also depends on how a headset is designed, and whether the technology is implemented in a feedforward, feedback or hybrid fashion. The feedforward approach, arguably the most common type of ANC, places microphones on the outside of the headphones to hear ambient noises and then process them. It is less accurate than placing the microphone inside the ear cup, but it works well for low-frequency noises. How does ANC work? Active noise cancellation (ANC) is a feature that’s become increasingly popular in high-end headphones and earbuds. It helps reduce distracting ambient sound before it reaches your ears, turning down the volume of the world around you by about 30dB. To do this, ANC headphones use tiny microphones on either the inside or outside of their ear cups to detect unwanted sounds. These microphones then create a sound that’s 180 degrees out of phase with the unwanted noise to cancel it out, effectively neutralising it before it gets to your ears. While this technology is often an excellent choice to keep the world at bay, it can also make it harder to hear certain things that are happening around you. That’s why many ANC headphones also have ambient or transparent modes that repurpose their onboard microphones to amplify surrounding sounds instead of cancelling them out. https://brighteon.social/@BestHeadphones ANC headphones also come in more sophisticated types like hybrid ANC, which combines the best features of feedforward and feedback active noise cancelling into one. This is a more expensive option than passive noise reduction, but it can be well worth the extra cost if you plan on using your headphones in noisy environments. What are the benefits of ANC? Headphones with active noise cancellation (ANC) are a popular way to block out unwanted sounds. They do this by incorporating microphones into the headphones that "listen" to ambient noise and generate a phase-inverted sound that cancels the external sounds before they reach your ears. The process works best with consistent low-frequency sounds, like the whir of an airplane engine or the hum of a coffee shop crowd. High-frequency, more erratic sounds are harder to cancel. This technology can also be used in conjunction with an ambient mode that repurposes the onboard mics to amplify the surrounding sounds, giving you more awareness of your surroundings and allowing you to have a conversation. ANC headsets will consume more battery power when active, so it's important to decide whether or not you really need this feature before purchasing a pair. However, ANC is safe to use and doesn't damage hearing. https://www.vingle.net/posts/5288064 What are the drawbacks of ANC? Headphones that use active noise cancelling (ANC) can be a great way to cut out background sounds when you’re working, studying or sleeping on a plane or train. They also protect your ears from damaging noise by reducing low-frequency sound. There are a few types of ANC headphones, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Let’s take a look at each type and how they work so you can determine which one is right for your needs. Feedforward ANC systems utilize a digital signal processor and dedicated ANC processing hardware to map the noise signal from outside to the audio signal inside your headphones. It’s not as accurate as having a microphone placed within the ear cup, but it can be effective when you’re wearing them properly. Feedback ANC uses a microphone inside the ear cups, which can be more accurate than an outside mic because it can capture sound from within the ear cup and driver more effectively. However, this system has a couple of downsides: it takes more time to capture noise before it hits the earphones and can be less effective at cancelling transient noise like wind howl.